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THE LAFAYETTE FLYING CORPS
IN TWO VOLUMES
Volume I
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THE
LAFATETTE FLTING CORPS
EDITED BY
JAMES NORMAN HALL
&>
CHARLES BERNARD NORDHOFF
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
EDGAR G. HAMILTON
WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME I
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
THE RIVERSIDE PRESS CAMBRIDGE
I920
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570.7
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COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY JAMB8 NORMAN HALL AND CHARLES BERNARD NORDHOFF
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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TO
WILLIAM K. VANDERBILT
GENEROUS AND LOYAL FRIEND OF THE
LAFAYETTE FLYING CORPS
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#
*>
*>
^
'Far above the squalor and the mud, so high in the firmament as to be
invisible from earth, they fight out the eternal issues of right and wrong.
Their daily and nightly struggles are like Miltonic conflicts between
winged hosts. They fight high and low. They skim like armed swallows
along the Front, attacking men in their flights, armed with rifle and
machine gun. They scatter infantry on the march; they destroy convoys;
they wreck trains. Every flight is a romance, every record an epic. They
are the knighthood of this war, without fear and without reproach; and
they recall the legendary days of chivalry, not merely by the daring
of their exploits, but by the nobility of their spirit."
(From a speech of David Lloyd George before
the House of Commons, October 2Q, 1917)
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PREFACE
IN offering this record of the Lafayette Flying Corps to the families and
friends of the men who served in it, and to the public at large, the editors
feel that a few words of explanation are necessary. Their purpose has
been twofold : to furnish a record as complete and authentic as possible, and
to reconstruct an atmosphere. To accomplish the first has not been easy,
for the work of collecting and arranging the material was not begun until
after the signing of the Armistice, when the pilots in the Corps had become
widely scattered. Some were still on duty in France; others had been sent to
aviation schools and depots throughout America; yet others had returned to
civilian life. The task of getting in touch with them has been difficult and in
some cases impossible.
In preparing the service records and biographical sketches, the general
policy has been followed of including only those of the men who served at
the Front. A few exceptions have been made in the case of men killed in acci-
dents, those who served with distinction in other than combatant capacities,
and those who were released because of wounds received in some other
branch of war service. The service records are as complete as painstaking
care could make them. Dates are occasionally wanting and copies of cita-
tions, for the reason that they could be secured neither from the men them-
selves nor from the French records. It was likewise impossible always to de-
cide upon the exact dates of American commissions. Those given here are
sometimes the date of granting, sometimes that of accepting the commis-
sion, and sometimes that of the pilot's active duty orders in U.S. Aviation.
The biographical sketches have not been written to the satisfaction of the
editors. It was inevitable, perhaps, that there should be a good deal of simi-
larity in them, written, as they were, of men whose experiences as aviators
were so largely similar. Furthermore, detailed information of the service of
many of the volunteers has been lacking. The editors had personal knowl-
edge of only those men who were in their own squadrons or groupes de combat.
The length or quality of a man's service is not, therefore, to be judged wholly
by the length or character of his biographical sketch.
Members of the Lafayette Corps who were not breveted, or who were re-
leased from the French service before being sent on active duty, are included
in a separate list. Most of the names in this supplementary list are of men
who served honorably and faithfully, and who were released because of illness,
as the result of injuries received in flying accidents, or because of inaptitude.
[ix]
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PREFACE
While always a matter of regret to a pilot, inaptitude is no cause for shame.
In the Air Service of any country, the number of men released before receiv-
ing the military brevet was always large, sometimes one half of the number
enlisted.
Owing chiefly to limits of space, the formal history has been made as con-
cise as possible. The editors have contented themselves with preparing a
brief narrative of the origin of the Escadrille Americaine, its service at the
Front, and its development into the Lafayette Flying Corps, carrying the
story through the winter of 1917-18, when the members of the Escadrille
Lafayette, as well as most of the American volunteers in other French squad-
rons, were transferred to the U.S. Air Service. Access has been had to the
files of the Lafayette Corps as well as to those of the French Service Airo-
nautique, and every effort has been made to give an accurate account as
well as to include in it all essential facts.
The more important history, the narrative of life in French aviation
schools and at the Front, has been told by the volunteers themselves. Vol-
ume II is made up from their letters written under the emotional stress of
a great experience. A few excerpts from articles or books already printed
have been included. The editors acknowledge their indebtedness to Messrs.
Doubleday, Page & Company for their permission to reprint in the historical
sketch an extract from James R. McConnell's Flying for France; to Messrs.
Charles Scribner's Sons for permission to reprint among the letters extracts
from Charles J. Biddle's The Way of the Eagle; 1 and to the Century Company
for permission to use extracts from Ruth Dunbar's story. Severely Wounded,
originally printed in the Century Magazine. In order to obtain many of the
letters, it was necessary to promise that the name of the writer would be
withheld. It was decided, therefore, to print all anonymously. In choosing
those for publication the editors have kept in mind the fact that the Lafa-
yette Corps was a cosmopolitan one. It is to be hoped that its members will be
seen here as they actually were, boys fresh from school or college, men just
entering business or professional life; men from the east and the west, the north
and the south; those who enlisted from a high sense of duty and those who
came at the irresistible call of adventure. In reading over their letters, one
seems to relive the old heroic days, to hear the distant mutter of the guns,
and the pulsing of the motors of the midnight Gothas; to see the return of
the patrol remote against the evening sky; to feel the thrill and the terror of
combat; to breathe again the unforgettable fragrance of an aerodrome —
the sweet, pungent odor of gasoline and burnt castor oil.
1 The letters reprinted from The Way of the Eagle are those bearing titles as follows : " A Franc
Twenty-Five per Day " (pp. 7-8), " With the Cigognes " (pp. 73"74)» " Oliver Chadwick " (pp. 77~78),
"Hobnobbing with Royalty" (p. 78), "The German Gun for Dunkirk" (p. 86), "A Comrade's
Grave" (pp. 88-91), "Shot Down in Flanders" (pp. 104-18), "Convalescing" (pp. 124-26), "Guy-
nemer" (p. 199), "After the Armistice" (pp. 276-78).
[x]
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PREFACE
The Lafayette Corps has played its part in history — how great a part
the future will decide. One hundred and ten of America's six hundred and
fifty aviators who served at the Front were Lafayette men. In addition
thirty-three pilots remained in the French service, fighting in French squad-
rons until the end of the war. Others were acting as instructors at aviation
schools both in France and in America. It seemed necessary that some record
of the accomplishment of the Lafayette Corps be set down, not only for the
pleasure of the men who were a part of it, but that others in later days might
not forget these volunteers who were among the first Americans to go to the
aid of France at a time of great need. , ^ „
J. N. H.
C. B. N.
Squibnocket, Martha's Vineyard
Massachusetts
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CONTENTS
I. THE ORIGIN OF THE ESCADRILLE AMERICAINE 3
II. THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT 17
III. THE LAFAYETTE FLYING CORPS 47
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Friends of the Corps 63
The Corps 93
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ILLUSTRATIONS
This list does not include the portraits of the members of the Corps which
appear in connection with the Biographical Sketches.
Pilots of the Escadrille Lafayette attacking a German Patrol
over the Champagne Sector Colored Frontispiece
From a watercolor by A. Vimnera
The Indian-Head Emblem of the Escadrille Lafayette {colored) i
Letter of Marechal Foch {facsimile) xix
Jarousse de Sillac 5
American Legionnaires, 1914: Thaw, Bach, and Bert Hall 7
The Bureau de Pilotage, Buc 8
Cowdin and Prince, Pau, March, 1915 9
Curtis, Bach, Cowdin, and Bert Hall, Pau, March, 191 5 9
Residence of Dr. Edmund L. Gros, 23 Avenue du Bois de Bou-
logne, Paris 10
Sergent Vignon 13
Sergent de Guingon and Lieutenant Bougaud 13
Lieutenant Henriot 13
Sergent Anson 13
Adjudant Prieud 15
Adjudant Deckert 15
Adjudants Caron and Paris i 5
General Hirschauer 19
Patrol Time: The Escadrille Lafayette at Luxeuil, 1916 20
Changing Sectors 22
Norman Prince, Lieutenant Nungesser, and Didier Masson at
Bar-le-Duc, August, 1916 23
The Squadron in August, 1916 * 25
Whiskey and Soda, the Squadron Mascots 27
Whiskey and Soda changing Sectors 27
Three Views of Captain Thenault and Fram 30
The Escadrille at Chaudun (Aisne), July, 1917 33
Sampson, the Cook of the N. 124 35
At the Aero Club of France, June 14, 191 7 37
Lovell, Genet, Lufbery, and McConnell, Saint-Just, February,
1917 38
Aerodromes of the Escadrille Lafayette {double-page) facing 38
fc Commandant Fequant, Captain Thenault, Lieutenant Thaw, and
* Sous-Lieutenant Lufbery 40
[XV]
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ILLUSTRATIONS
The First Citation of the Escadrille Lafayette 41
Arrival of the American Mechanics, Escadrille Lafayette, Feb-
ruary 17, 191 8 43
The Quarters of the American Mechanics, La Ferme de la No-
blette (Champagne Sector) 43
Americans at Buc, Summer of 191 6 50
M. DE SlLLAC AND Dr. GrOS VISITING THE AMERICAN PlLOTS AT AvORD,
March, 191 7 51
Colonel Girod, Commanding Officer of the French Aviation
Schools 52
Groupe de Combat 13 in Action (double-page) facing 56
From drawings
A Rainy Day in Camp 57
Commandant Brocard 59
Jacques Louis Dumesnil 60
The Moselle at Treves 61
Captain Guynemer of the Cigognes winning a Double Victory in
the Parvilliers Sector during a Gas Attack (colored) facing 63
From a watercolor by A. Vimnera
The Guests at ^ Banquet given to Mr. W. K. Vanderbilt, Honor-
ary President of the Lafayette Flying Corps, at the Inter-
allied Club, Paris, October 9, 191 8 67
Dr. Edmund Gros 70
Mrs. Ovington 73
Commandant Fequant 75
Commandant Fequant at the Front 76
Captain Georges Thenault 78
Captain Thenault and Fram 79
Lieutenant Alfred de Laage de Meux 81
The Funeral of Lieutenant de Laage de Meux 84
The Escadrille Lafayette at Chaudun, July, 191 7: Lieutenant
de Maison-Rouge 86
Lieutenant Louis Verdier-Fauvety 87
Lieutenant Louis Verdier-Fauvety and the Result of one of
his Combats 89
Single Combat over Rheims (colored) facing 93
From a watercolor by A. Vimnera
Frazier Curtis, James Bach, Bert Hall, and Norman Prince at
Pau, March, 191 5 101
Benney and Spencer 121
rumpler two-seater brought down by major charles blddle,
August 16, 1918 128
Breguet Day Bombers in Formation 133
[ xvi ]
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ILLUSTRATIONS
Davis and Booth at Nice 139
Edgar Bouligny with Sergent Foucher, his Machine-Gunner 140
Over the Macedonian Front 141
Campbell with his Three-Wing Nieuport 156
Chadwick's Grave in Flanders 164
Chamberlain and Americans' Room at Avord 167
The Escadrille Lafayette at Luxeuil, May, 1916 173
American Pilots of the Spad 80 182
Theodore de Kruijff and Phelps Collins at Pau 186
Pilots of Spad 163 188
Sergent Cowdin, Lieutenant de Laage de Meux, Captain The-
nault, and Lieutenant Thaw 197
Crehore and Marinovitch 201
Cunningham and York, Avord, July, 191 7 203
Saxon, Dock, Read, and Mills, Avord, October, 1917 208
Robert Donze at a Prise d'Armes, Belfort 213
The American Barracks at Buc, 1916 217
Genet's Funeral at Ham 244
Hall near Pagny-sur-Moselle, Morning of May 7, 191 8 258
Willis Haviland at Cachy on the Somme 262
Hitchcock, York, Winter, Guest, Rodgers, and Schreiber on
the way to France 269
An Albatross 273
M. Ciret 275
The Remains of Hoskier's Machine 277
The Funeral of Hoskier and Dressy 278
Bolsena, Italy 283
Funeral of Harry F. Johnson 289
Maury Jones and Charles Biddle at Avord — Penguin Class 293
Sergent Judd and Adjudant de Curnieu at Avord 296
Baer, Pelton, de Kruijff, and Kerwood, Cafe d'Avord, April, 1917 299
A Breguet Bomber 305
Larner's Spad 308
Littauer's Wind-Shield 317
Loughran and Members of Spad 84 323
lovell as an £leve-pllote at buc, september, i916 (with bar-
CLAY, Willis, and others) 325
"'Frisco" and a Panne de Moteur of Lovell's 326
lufbery receiving the british military medal 333
Lufbery, Whiskey, and Soda 334
lufbery and whiskey 335
Maron (Merthe-et-Moselle) 336
[ xvii ]
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ILLUSTRATIONS
The Wreck of Major Lufbery's Machine, May 19, 1918 337
McConnell's Grave near Ham 344
The Firing-Squad at Douglas MacMonagle's Funeral 351
Miller, Bullen, Sitterly, Rodgers, Winslow, and Macke at
Avord, Summer of 1917 359
Nichols's Comrades: Roll-Call at Tours 365
Landram Ovington and Austen Parker 369
Pavelka's Funeral in Salonica in November, 1917 380
Americans at Avord 386
Grave of Norman Prince, Luxeuil 394
The Little Morane (David Guy) 400
Cushman, Dock, and Read, Avord, July, 1917 402
Rockwell's Grave 409
Scanlon's Crash into the Bakery 426
SOUBIRAN AND HIS SpAD 436
Spencer's Grave, Belfort 438
Monument erected to the Memory of William H. Tailer by the
Citizens of Roslyn 452
Thaw building a Boat from an Aeroplane Fuselage, Dunkirk,
1918 461
Wainwright Abbott and Charles Trinkard 464
TURNURE AND JlM, THE AnNAMITE ORDERLY, AT AvORD 470
A Patrol of Veil's Squadron leaving the Field 476
Stuart Walcott and Edward Loughran at Le Plessis-Belleville 479
Stuart Walcott's Grave at Leffincourt, Ardennes 480
Wrapped gracefully around a Tree 482
Wellman and Judd at Avord 484
Officers' Prison Camp, Karlsruhe, Baden 495
Allan Winslow after his Victory at Toul 501
Winter's Grave 504
Zinn's Squadron, Sop. 24 513
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IFACS1MILEJ
Lb Marechal Foch
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THE LAFAYETTE FLYING CORPS
HISTORY
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THE LAFAYETTE FLYING CORPS
I
THE ORIGIN OF THE ESCADRILLE AMERICAINE
A S one considers the historical significance of the Lafayette Flying
/% Corps, it becomes evident that the outstanding accomplish-
JL M ment of the volunteers was their influence on public opinion in
America at a time when we were neutral and under heavy pressure to
maintain our neutrality. The position of the United States in regard to
the war was at once the greatest obstacle confronting the founders of the
Corps, and their most forceful argument used in urging the French to
permit enlistments in the Aviation Service.
France was forced to exercise ceaseless vigilance against German spies
masquerading as American subjects. Before admitting a neutral to her
flying schools, depots, and squadrons, where there were daily opportuni-
ties to acquire information of importance to the enemy, it was necessary
to make a painstaking examination of the candidate. This was no small
obstacle to enlistment, and added to it was the fact that there existed a
superabundance, rather than a shortage, of flying personnel. France and
the United States, on the other hand, were traditional friends, united for
more than a hundred years by the bond of a common idealism. The best
element in America was already in open sympathy with France, and the
French authorities, with ready understanding of our race, realized that
the presence of a band of young Americans in French uniform, fighting
the spectacular battles of the sky, would be certain to arouse a wide-
spread interest and sympathy at home. To appreciate the importance of
the movement, therefore, one must bear in mind that the motive which
actuated France in permitting the establishment of the Lafayette Flying
Corps was largely political.
To Norman Prince, of Pride's Crossing, Massachusetts, belongs the
credit of first conceiving the idea of a squadron of American volunteer
pilots to serve with the French. In November, 19 14, Prince was at Mar-
[3 ]
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THE ORIGIN OF THE ESCADRILLE AMERICAINE
blehead, learning to pilot hydro-aeroplanes at the Burgess school. He
hoped to offer his services to France as soon as he had perfected himself
in flying, believing that other Americans with experience as aviators
would like to join with him, and that the French Government would be
willing to accept a squadron of volunteer airmen for service at the Front.
He suggested the idea to Frazier Curtis, who was in training with him,
and the two men spent much time in discussing it. Curtis had just re-
turned from England, where he had offered his services to the Royal
Flying Corps, but had been refused on account of his American citizen-
ship. While strongly approving of Prince's plan, he decided that he would
take no active part in it until he had made another attempt at enlistment
in England. In case of a second failure there, he promised his active sup-
port in the attempt to organize an Escadrille Americaine in France.
Deciding to offer his plan to the French Government at the earliest
opportunity, Prince sailed for France on January 20, 19 15, and set to
work at once to enlist the aid of several Americans residing in Paris.
Some could not be convinced that the project was feasible, and others
thought it unwise to organize a squadron of American volunteers because
of the neutrality of the United States. In Mr. Robert W. Bliss and Mr.
Robert Chanler, however, Prince found helpful and enthusiastic allies
who not only gave him the encouragement of a profound belief in his plan,
but gave practical support by arranging for introductions and interviews
with members of the French War Department.
On December 24, 19 14, Curtis sailed for England, where he found it
impossible to join the Royal Flying Corps without giving up his Ameri-
can citizenship — a step he was unwilling to take; and early in February,
191 5, he went to France to make application for enlistment in the French
Aviation. At the Hotel Palais d'Orsay in Paris he met Prince, who told
him that he had taken up his plan with the Ministry of War through his
friends Jacques and Paul de Lesseps — members of the Air Guard of
Paris — and that the outcome was still uncertain. At a dinner given by
the de Lesseps brothers to the two Americans, the situation was discussed
from every point of view, and a letter drawn up addressed to M. Miller-
and, then Minister of War, offering to France the services of a squadron
of American airmen. This letter met with a very discouraging response.
The Americans were told that no volunteers could be admitted to the
Aviation, owing to the popularity of this branch with the French soldiers,
[4]
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JAROUSSE DE SILLAC
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THE ORIGIN OF THE ESCADRILLE AM&RICAINE
hundreds of whom — far more than could be used — were applying for
training as pilots.
The situation seemed almost hopeless, but Prince was not to be dis-
couraged. Another avenue of approach was opened through the courtesy
of Mr. Robert Bliss, who arranged a meeting with M. Jarousse de
Sillac, — a meeting fruitful in result for the future Corps. It was chiefly
through the sympathy and active interest of M. de Sillac that permis-
sion for the formation of an American squadron was finally obtained.
On February 20, 191 5, the following letter was sent by him to his friend
Colonel Bouttieaux, of the Ministry of War:
I beg to transmit to you herewith attached the names of six young men,
citizens of the United States of America, who desire to enlist in the French
Aviation — an offer which was not accepted by the Minister of War. Permit
me to call your attention to this matter, insisting upon its great interest.
It appears to me that there might be great advantages in the creation of an
American Squadron. The United States would be proud of the fact that
certain of her young men, acting as did Lafayette, have come to fight for
France and civilization. The resulting sentiment of enthusiasm could have
but one effect: to turn the Americans in the direction of the Allies. There is a
precedent in the Legion of Garibaldi, which has had an undeniably good
influence on Franco-Italian relations. If you approve these considerations,
I am confident that it will be possible to accept these young men and to
authorize their enlistment in such a manner that they may be grouped
under the direction of a French chief. In doing this you will contribute to
the happiness of these six Americans.
This letter brought the following reply from Colonel Bouttieaux,
dated February 24, 191 5:
I think that your candidates will be welcomed. They should contract an
engagement in the French Army for the duration of the war, and should
agree to fly only the aeroplanes customarily used in the French Aviation
Service.
Many thanks and very cordially yours
The six Americans to whom M. de Sillac alluded were: Norman Prince,
Frazier Curtis, Elliot Cowdin, William Thaw, Bert Hall, and James
Bach. The three latter were already enlisted in the French Army as
engages volontaires, and had effected their transfer to the Aviation after
serving from August to December, 1914, in the Foreign Legion. All three
had commenced their training at Buc (Seine-et-Oise). Cowdin, who had
[6]
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AMERICAN LEGIONNAIRES. 1914
Thaw seated (center). Bach seated (right). Bert Hall standing (right)
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THE ORIGIN OF THE ESCADRILLE AMERICAINE
been in the Ambulance Service, was ready to transfer at once to Aviation,
and during the week following the receipt of Colonel Bouttieaux's letter,
Prince, Curtis, and Cowdin signed their enlistment papers (March 9,
191 5) and were sent to Pau (B.P.) to begin their training. They were soon
joined by Bach and Hall, whose transfer from Buc had been requested by
Prince. Thaw, who was already an experienced airman and about to be
sent to the Front, naturally preferred this opportunity for gaining actual
THE BUREAU DE PILOTAGE. BUC
experience as a war pilot to the alternative of going to Pau, where he
would have to wait until the other Americans had completed their train-
ing. He therefore requested to go on active duty as a member of a French
squadron, planning to join the other volunteers later, if the Escadrille
Americaine should become a reality.
Meanwhile another American, Dr. Edmund L. Gros (later Lieutenant-
Colonel, U.S. Air Service), then one of the heads of the American Ambu-
lance, had been thinking, quite independently, of the possibility of form-
ing a squadron of American volunteer airmen. In the Foreign Legion,
Americans had already distinguished themselves as combatants, and in
the Ambulance there were dozens of young men eager for a more active
branch of service. It occurred to Dr. Gros that both in the Legion and in
[8]
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THE ORIGIN OF THE ESCADRILLE AMERICAINE
the Ambulance there was splendid material which might be used to good
advantage in the French Aviation Service. Curtis, who was now as keenly
COWDIN AND PRINCE, PAU, MARCH, 1915
interested as Prince, spent much of his leisure time in searching for vol-
unteers. Early in July, while making a canvass of Ambulance men at
CURTIS. BACH, COWDIN. AND BERT HALL. PAU, MARCH, 1915
Neuilly, he learned of Dr. Gros's activity in the same direction, and
wrote the following letter:
[9]
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THE ORIGIN OF THE ESCADRILLE AMERICAINE
Dear Dr. Gros:
I went to the Ambulance today to see if I could find any drivers who
wanted to join the French Aviation Service. The Government is willing to
train ioo American flyers and to keep them together in one Corps. Men of
flying experience would be preferred, but those of apparent aptitude (know-
ledge of French, gas engines, etc.) will be acceptable. Mr. Frechon tells me
you are keen on getting up a big
Corps, so we ought to be able to
work together. I would like to in-
troduce you to one of my friends
who is pretty much running this
enlarged Corps. I am here on sick-
leave, three accidents having left me
pretty well jarred up. I expect to
go to the seaside for a good rest in
a day or two, but am very anxious
to see you first.
Sincerely yours
(Signed) Frazier Curtis
Meeting Curtis shortly after
this, and through him M. de Sillac,
Dr. Gros discussed with them his
ideas and the three found them-
selves in hearty accord. As his
duties lay in Paris, and he knew
thoroughly the language and cus-
toms of the French, Dr. Gros was
peculiarly fitted to push forward
RESIDENCE OF DR. EDMUND L. GROS. .1 1 1 1 r> • 1
23 avenue du bois de Boulogne, paris the work begun by rnnce, who
was then at the flying school at
Pau and busy with his duties. It was left for M. de Sillac and Dr. Gros
to interview the French authorities, arouse the interest of prominent
Americans, and to keep the project moving forward toward realization.
A committee was formed, consisting of M. de Sillac President, Dr. Gros
Vice-President, and Mr. Frederick Allen; these three men kept in close
touch with the Ministry of War. Many difficulties, which at times seemed
almost insurmountable, were encountered, but finally, on July 8, 191 5,
General Hirschauer, Chief of French Military Aeronautics, accepted an
invitation to meet the supporters cf the proposed escadrille at a luncheon
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THE ORIGIN OF THE ESCADRILLE AMERICAINE
at the house of Senator Menier. There were present : General Hirsch-
auer, Colonel Bouttieaux, Senator Menier, Leon Bourgeois, Mr. Robert
Bacon, M. de Sillac, Dr. Gros, and Dr. William White, of Philadelphia.
Hitherto the French had been uniformly averse to grouping American
flyers on the Front, but at this luncheon General Hirschauer was per-
suaded of the feasibility and benefits of such a plan, and agreed to give
orders for the formation of an American squadron, to be known as the
Escadrille Americaine.
Military business moves with proverbial slowness; many details re-
mained to be settled, and eight months were to elapse before the Com-
mander-in-Chief finally authorized the formation of the American Squad-
ron. On August 21, 1915, it was arranged between the Ministry of War
and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that all matters concerning the
Escadrille Americaine should be dealt with by the Franco-American
Committee mentioned above.
The efforts of the Committee were beginning to bear fruit, as is shown
in the correspondence between M. Rene Besnard, Sub-Secretary of State
for Military Aeronautics, and the President of the Committee. On Oc-
tober 28, M. Besnard wrote that the initiative of the Committee would
be greatly appreciated by the Commander-in-Chief. And a few days
later:
The letter which I sent you on October 28, showed you the great interest
which the Commander-in-Chief, as well as I, attach to a prompt solution
of the question. I therefore ask you to send me as soon as possible the details
of your plan of action.
In accordance with M. Besnard's request, the President of the Com-
mittee wrote on December 1, 1915:
You are kind enough to ask me what measures are proposed in order to
facilitate our plan. A committee composed of Americans has been formed,
with the object of making known to their compatriots the conditions under
which they may enlist in the French Aviation, and to select the more desir-
able candidates from among those who offer themselves. The Americans who
will lend their efforts to recruiting, and among whom are Mr. Bacon, Mr.
Vanderbilt, Mr. Allen, Colonel Mott, and Dr. Gros, prefer, for the time
being, to avoid publicity. In order to facilitate their work, they should be
able to assure their compatriots that they will be well treated in the French
Aviation, and not subjected to useless moving about or change of units. Per-
mit me to call to your attention a case in point. Dudley L. Hill enlisted in
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THE ORIGIN OF THE ESCADRILLE AMERICAINE
September, 1915, passed the medical examination at Paris, and was sent to
Pau. It was discovered there that he suffered . from . defective vision of one
eye, and it was proposed, not to release him, but to employ him as a me-
chanic at Dijon. Allow me to ask you, therefore, if it would be possible
to give to Americans who desire to enlist the following assurances:
1. That every care will be taken to settle definitely at Paris their medical
fitness for flying.
2. That if, once enlisted, they show inaptitude for flying, it be made pos-
sible to release them.
3. That they be treated, in so far as possible, with courtesy inspired by
their generosity in offering their lives in the service of France.
In answering this letter, M. Besnard stated that the medical examina-
tion at Paris would be final in so far as possible, and that he appreciated
the generous sentiments actuating the volunteers and would personally
see that they received just treatment. The matter of release had been
taken up with the Direction of Infantry. On December 25, 1915, the Pres-
ident of the Committee received from M. Besnard the following letter,
which marked an important and generous concession on the part of the
French authorities:
It gives me pleasure to inform you, as a sequel to my letter of the 13th,
that the Direction of Infantry has admitted the possibility of releasing
Americans serving in the French Aviation ... if they do not satisfy the
conditions demanded of the flying personnel. . . . The following solution,
which should be satisfactory to those interested, has been authorized: The
letter sent to Americans, authorizing their engagement, in the French Avia-
tion, will contain the following clause: "It is guaranteed to you that this
act of engagement may be rescinded, either on your demand, or on demand
of the military authorities, in case of proven inaptitude for service in the
flying personnel of the Military Aviation."
In July, General Hirschauer had agreed to give orders for the forma-
tion of an American squadron, but the summer and autumn passed, and
1915 gave place to 1916 without definite steps toward the grouping of
Americans on the Front. The fine determination of the Committee is
shown by the fact that discouragement was never for a moment permitted
to interfere with its efforts, which found expression in the following letter
sent by the Committee to M. Besnard on January 24, 1916:
The members of the Franco-American Committee wish to express to you
their sincere thanks for the approval which you have given to their plan,
which gives them encouragement to continue their efforts. We therefore pro-
[ 12]
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SERGENT VIGNON SERGENT DE GUINGON AND
LIEUTENANT BOUGAUD
LIEUTENANT HENRIOT SERGENT ANSON
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THE ORIGIN OF THE ESCADRILLE AMfeRICAINE
pose to spread our booklet with which you are already familiar. In order to
second this action, I would be grateful if you could obtain through General
Headquarters the grouping of American pilots in the same squadron. This
has often been promised us, and it is of the greatest importance that such a
squadron be constituted. Most of the pilots are already familiar with Nieuport
planes, and would be happy to have the honor of being assigned to a fighting
squadron equipped with Nieuports. Among those who are breveted, and of
whom several have distinguished themselves, permit me to recall to you
the names of the following pilots who could be grouped immediately: Lieu-
tenant Thaw; Sergeants Cowdin, Prince, and Masson; Pilots Guerin, Hall,
Balsley, Chapman, Rockwell, Rumsey, and Johnson. Captain Thenault,
of the C. 42, D.A.L., has already made a request to be commanding officer
of the American Squadron, and the Committee would be grateful for your
approval of his appointment. In addition to the fully trained pilots, there
are a few American volunteers, particularly qualified to make flyers, who
have sent in requests to be transferred to the Aviation. They are:
Soubiran, Robert (170th Infantry)
Dugan, William E. (170th Infantry)
Boal, Pierre (1st Cuirassiers) •
Rocle, Marius (170th Infantry)
Zinn, Frederick (Foreign Legion)
We would be happy, in the interests ... of the Franco-American Corps, if
you would be kind enough to take measures to transfer these Americans
to the Aviation as soon as possible.
During the month of February, Colonel Regnier was made Director of
Aeronautics, and no time was wasted in winning the new Director to the
cause of the American volunteers. On March 3, 1916, the Committee
wrote him:
Following our letter of January 24, addressed to M. Rene Besnard, and
of which a copy is attached, allow us respectfully to call your attention to
the situation of the Americans enlisted in the French Army. M. Millerand,
General Hirschauer, and M. Besnard, after careful study of the question,
decided that the American pilots should be united in one squadron. General
Headquarters also took this view, and it was furthermore decided that
Americans should fly the Nieuport fighting planes. Notwithstanding this,
. . . only four have been grouped at Plessis-Belleville. The others are scat-
tered, and most of them have not been assigned to Nieuports. . . . The
Franco-American Committee, which has taken upon itself the task of se-
lecting volunteers from the United States . . . would be very grateful if you
could find it possible to carry out the decisions taken after careful reflection
by your predecessors.
[ Hi
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ADJUDANT PRIEUD ADJUDANT DECKERT
ADJUDANTS CARON AND PARIS
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THE ORIGIN OF THE ESCADRILLE AMERICAINE
Colonel Regnier's reply to this letter was both courteous and satis-
factory. He said that on February 20 he had taken up the matter of an
American squadron with General Headquarters, and had been informed
that such a squadron was to be organized from a list of pilots communi-
cated to him. He also stated that all American student-pilots who seemed
to be capable of piloting the Nieuport were to be given a chance to learn
to fly that machine. On March 23, 1916, he wrote M. de Sillac again
regarding the disposition of Americans, suggesting that men who did
not show enough aptitude to justify assigning them to Nieuport training
be formed into a Caudron squadron, analogous to the Nieuport squadron
now finally authorized by General Headquarters. (As nearly all of the
Americans did well in the schools, it did not become necessary to act on
this suggestion.) The important passages of Colonel Regnier's letter of
March 14, 1916, announcing to the President of the Committee that the
efforts of the Committee had finally met with success, are as follows :
Replying to your letter of March 3, 1916, I have the honor to communi-
cate to you the following information. I had already considered the question
of an American squadron, and as early as February 20, 1916, I asked the
Commander-in-Chief to advise me of his intentions in this matter. General
Headquarters has just replied, informing me that an American squadron will
be organized, with the pilots whose names follow: William Thaw, Elliot Cow-
din, Kiffin Rockwell, Norman Prince, Charles C. Johnson, Clyde Balsley,
Victor Chapman, Lawrence Rumsey, and James R. McConnell. ... I have
every reason to believe that the . . . squadron will be constituted rapidly
. . . and I will keep you posted as to what is done in this matter.
Shortly after this the pilots, some of whom were then in service with
French squadrons, were assembled at Le Plessis-Belleville, the great
Aviation depot a short distance north of Paris, and on April 20, 1916, the
Escadrille Americaine, officially the N 124, was placed on duty at the
Front.
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II
THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT
ON the evening of April 17, 1916, a dinner was held at a Paris
restaurant to celebrate the final and definite organization of the
Escadrille Americaine. There were present: Norman Prince, the
founder of the Squadron; William Thaw, Victor Chapman, Kiffin Rock-
well, James McConnell, Clyde Balsley, Chouteau Johnson, and Lawrence
Rumsey, all breveted pilots; Michel, Norman Prince's mecanicien; and
Paul Rockwell, Kiffin Rockwell's brother, who had been with him in the
Legion. Five of the men were on their way to the Front as pilots of the
newly formed American Squadron, N.124. Prince, Chapman, Rockwell,
and McConnell left the same evening for Luxeuil-les-Bains, where the
unit was to begin active service. They were joined, a few days later, by
Thaw, Elliot Cowdin, and Bert Hall, these seven men being the original
members of the Escadrille Americaine. The following account of the early
history of N. 124 is taken from James McConnell's book, "Flying for
France," which Was written in the autumn of 1916.
On our arrival at Luxeuil we were met by Captain Georges Thenault,
the French commander of the Escadrille Americaine — officially known as
N. 124 — and motored to the aviation field in one of the staff cars assigned
to us. I enjoyed that ride. Lolling back against the soft leather cushions, I
recalled how in my apprenticeship days at Pau I had had to walk six miles
for my laundry.
The equipment awaiting us at the field was even more impressive than
our automobile. Everything was brand-new, from the fifteen Fiat trucks to
the office, tnagasin, and rest tents. And the men attached to the escadrille!
At first sight they seemed to outnumber the Nicaraguan army — mechani-
cians, chauffeurs, armorers, motor-cyclists, telephonists, wireless operators,
Red-Cross stretcher-bearers, clerks! Afterward I learned they totaled
seventy-odd, and that all of them were glad to be connected with the Ameri-
can Escadrille.
Rooms were assigned to us in a villa adjoining the famous hot baths of
Luxeuil. We messed with our officers, Captain Thenault and Lieutenant
de Laage de Meux, at the best hotel in town. An automobile was always on
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THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT
hand to carry us to the field. I began to wonder whether I was a summer re-
sorter or a soldier.
Among the pilots who had welcomed us, we discovered the famous
Captain Happe, commander of the Luxeuil bombardment group. After
we had been introduced, he pointed to eight little boxes arranged on a
table.
"They contain Croix de Guerre for the families of the men I lost on my
last trip," he explained, and he added: "It's a good thing you're here to go
along with us for protection. There are lots of Boches in this sector."
I thought of the luxury we were enjoying; our comfortable beds, baths,
and motor cars, and then I recalled the ancient custom of giving a man
selected for the sacrifice a royal time of it before the appointed day.
To acquaint us with the few places where a safe landing was possible,
we were motored through the Vosges Mountains and on into Alsace. It was
a delightful opportunity to see that glorious countryside, and we appreciated
it the more because we knew its charm would be lost when we surveyed it
from the sky. From the air the ground presents no scenic effects. The ravish-
ing beauty of the Val d'Ajol, the steep mountain-sides bristling with a solid
mass of giant pines, the glittering cascades tumbling downward through
fairylike avenues of verdure, the roaring, tossing torrent at the foot of the
slope — all this loveliness, seen from an airplane at 12,000 feet, fades into
flat splotches of green traced with a tiny ribbon of silver.
The American Escadrille was sent to Luxeuil primarily to acquire the
team work necessary to a flying unit. Then, too, the new pilots needed a
taste of anti-aircraft fire to familiarize them with the business of aviation
over a battle-field. They shot well in that sector, too. Thaw's machine was
hit at an altitude of 13,000 feet.
THE ESCADRILLE'S FIRST SORTIE
The memory of the first sortie we made as an escadrille will always, re-
main fresh in my mind because it was also my first trip over the lines. We
were to leave at six in the morning. Captain Thenault pointed out on his
aerial map the route we were to follow. Never having flown over this region
before, I was afraid of losing myself. Therefore, as it is easier to keep other
airplanes in sight when one is above them, I began climbing as rapidly as
possible, meaning to trail along in the wake of my companions. Unless one
has had practice in flying in formation, however, it is hard to keep in con-
tact. The diminutive avions de chasse are the merest pin-points against the
great sweep of landscape below and the limitless heavens above. The air was
misty and clouds were gathering. Ahead there seemed a barrier of them.
Although as I looked down, the ground showed plainly, in the distance
everything was hazy. Forging up above the mist, at 7000 feet, I lost the
others altogether. Even when they are not closely joined, the clouds seea
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GENERAL HIRSCHAUER
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THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT
from immediately above, appear as a solid bank of white. The spaces be-
tween are indistinguishable. It is like being in an Arctic ice-field.
To the south I made out the Alps. Their glittering peaks projected up
through the white sea about me like majestic icebergs. Not a single plane
was visible anywhere, and I was growing very uncertain about my position.
My splendid isolation had become oppressive, when, one by one, the others
began bobbing up above the cloud level, and I had company again.
PATROL TIME: THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT LUXEUIL, 1916
We were over Belfort and headed for the trench lines. The cloud-banks
dropped behind, and below us we saw the smiling plain of Alsace stretching
eastward to the Rhine. It was distinctly pleasurable, flying over this con-
quered land. Following the course of the canal that runs to the Rhine, I
sighted, from a height of 13,000 feet over Dannemarie, a series of brown,
woodworm-like tracings on the ground — the trenches!
My attention was drawn elsewhere almost immediately, however. Two
balls of black smoke had suddenly appeared close to one of the machines
ahead of me, and with the same disconcerting abruptness similar balls be-
gan to dot the sky above, below, and on all sides of us. We were being shot
at with shrapnel. It was interesting to watch the flash of the bursting shells,
and the attendant smoke puffs — black, white, or yellow, depending on
the kind of shrapnel used. The roar of the motor drowned the noise of the
explosions. Strangely enough, my feelings about it were wholly impersonal.
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THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT
We turned north after crossing the lines. Mulhouse seemed just below us,
and I noted with a keen sense of satisfaction our invasion of real German
territory. The Rhine, too, looked delightfully accessible. As we continued
northward I distinguished the twin lakes of Gerardmer sparkling in their
emerald setting. Where the lines crossed the Hartmannsweilerkopf there
were little spurts of brown smoke as shells burst in the trenches. One could
scarcely pick out the old city of Thann from among the numerous neigh-
boring villages, so tiny it seemed in the valley's mouth. I had never been
higher than 7000 feet, and was unaccustomed to reading country from a great
altitude. It was also bitterly cold, and even in my fur-lined combination I
was shivering. I noticed, too, that I had to take long, deep breaths in the
rarefied atmosphere. Looking downward at a certain angle, I saw what at
first I took to be a round, shimmering pool of water. It was simply the ef-
fect of the sunlight on the congealing mist. We had been keeping an eye out
for German machines since leaving our lines, but none had appeared. It
was n't surprising, for we were too many.
Only four days later, however, Kiffin Rockwell brought down the es-
cadrille's first plane in his initial aerial combat. He was flying alone when,
over Thann, he came upon a German on reconnaissance. He dived and the
German turned toward his own lines, opening fire from a long distance.
Rockwell kept straight after him. Then, closing to within thirty yards, he
pressed on the release of his machine gun, and saw the enemy gunner fall
backward and the pilot crumple up sideways in his seat. The plane spun
downward and crashed to earth just behind the German trenches. Swooping
close to the ground Rockwell saw the debris burning brightly. He had turned
the trick with but four shots and only one German bullet had struck his
Nieuport. An observation post telephoned the news before Rockwell's
return, and he had a great welcome. All Luxeuil smiled upon him — par-
ticularly the girls. But he could n't stay to enjoy his popularity. The escar
drille was ordered to the Verdun sector.
While in a way we were sorry to leave Luxeuil, we naturally did n't regret
the chance to take part in the aerial activity of the world's greatest battle.
The night before our departure, some German aircraft destroyed four of our
tractors and killed six men with bombs, but even that caused little excite-
ment compared with going to Verdun. We would get square with the Boches
over Verdun, we thought — it is impossible to chase airplanes at night, so
the raiders made a safe retreat.
As soon as we pilots had left in our machines, the trucks and tractors set
out in convoy, carrying the men and equipment. The Nieuports carried us
to our new post in a little more than an hour. We stowed them away in the
hangars and went to have a look at our sleeping-quarters. A commodious
villa halfway between the town of Bar-le-Duc and the aviation field had
been assigned to us, and comforts were as plentiful as at Luxeuil.
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THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT
Our really serious work had begun, however, and we knew it. Even as far
behind the actual fighting as Bar-le-Duc, one could sense one's proximity
to a vast military operation. The endless convoys of motor trucks, the fast-
flowing stream of troops, and the distressing number of ambulances brought
realization of the near presence of a gigantic battle.
CHANGING SECTORS
Within a twenty-mile radius of the Verdun Front aviation camps
abound. Our escadrille was listed on the schedule with the other fighting
units, each of which has its specified flying hours, rotating so there is always
an escadrille de chasse over the lines. A field wireless to enable us to keep
track of the movements of enemy planes became part of our equipment.
Lufbery joined us a few days after our arrival. He was followed by Chou-
teau Johnson and Clyde Balsley, who had been on the air guard over Paris.
Dudley Hill and Lawrence Rumsey came next, and after them Didier
Masson and Paul Pavelka. Nieuports were supplied them from the nearest
depots, and as soon as they had mounted their instruments and machine
guns, they were on the job with the rest of us.
Before we were fairly settled at Bar-le-Duc, Bert Hall brought down a Ger-
man observation craft and Thaw a Fokker. Fights occurred on almost every
sortie. The Germans seldom crossed into our territory, unless on a bombard-
ing jaunt, and thus practically all the fighting took place on their side of the
line. Thaw dropped his Fokker in the morning, and on the afternoon of the
same day there was a big combat far behind the German trenches. Thaw
was wounded in the arm, and an explosive bullet detonating on Rockwell's
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THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT
wind-shield tore several gashes in his face. Despite the blood which was
blinding him, Rockwell managed to reach an aviation field and land. Thaw,
whose wound bled profusely, landed in a dazed condition just within our lines.
He was too weak to walk, and French soldiers carried him to a field dressing-
station, whence he was sent to Paris for further treatment. Rockwell's wounds
were less serious and he insisted on flying again almost immediately.
A week or so later Victor Chapman was wounded. Considering the num-
ber of fights he had been in and the courage with which he attacked, it
NORMAN PRINCE. LIEUTENANT NUNGESSER (CENTER). AND DIDIER MASSON
AT BAR-LE-DUC. AUGUST. 1916
was a miracle he had not been hit before. He always fought against odds
and far within the enemy's country. He flew more than any of us, never
missing an opportunity to go up, and never coming down until his gasoline
was giving out. His machine was a sieve of patched-up bullet holes. His
nerve was almost superhuman and his devotion to the cause for which he
fought sublime. The day he was wounded he attacked four machines. Swoop-
fcig down from behind, one of them, a Fokker, riddled Chapman's plane.
One bullet cut deep into his scalp, but Chapman, a master pilot, escaped
from the trap, and fired several shots to show he was still safe. A stability
control had been severed by a bullet. Chapman held the broken rod in one
•hand, managed his machine with the other, and succeeded in landing on
a near-by aviation field. His wound was dressed, his machine repaired, and
he immediately took the air in pursuit of some more enemies. He would take
no rest, and with bandaged head continued to fly and fight.
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THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT
The escadrille's next serious encounter took place on June 18. Captain
Thenault, Rockwell, Balsley, and Prince were surrounded by a large num-
ber of Germans, who, circling about them, commenced firing at long range.
Realizing their numerical inferiority, the Americans and their commander
sought the safest way out by attacking the enemy machines nearest the
French lines. Rockwell, Prince, and the Captain broke through successfully,
but Balsley found himself hemmed in. He attacked the German nearest
him, only to receive an explosive bullet in his thigh. In trying to get away
by a vertical dive, his machine went into a corkscrew and swung over on its
back. Extra cartridge rollers dislodged from their case hit his arms. He was
tumbling straight toward the trenches, but by a supreme effort he regained
control, righted the plane, and landed without disaster in a meadow just
behind the firing line.
Soldiers carried him to the shelter of a near-by fort, and later he was
taken to a field hospital, where he lingered for days between life and death.
Ten fragments of the explosive bullet were removed from his stomach. He
bore up bravely, and became the favorite of the wounded officers in whose
ward he lay. When we flew over to see him, they would say: 77 est un brave
petit gars, Vaviateur americain. On a shelf by his bed, done up in a handker-
chief, he kept the pieces of bullets taken out of him, and under them some
sheets of paper on which he was trying to write his mother, back in El Paso.
Balsley was awarded the Medaille Militaire and the Croix de Guerre, but
the honors scared him. He had seen them decorate officers in the ward
before they died.
Then came Chapman's last fight. Before leaving, he had put two bags
of oranges in his machine to take to Balsley, who liked to suck them
to relieve his terrible thirst. There was an aerial struggle against odds,
far within the German lines, and Chapman, to divert their fire from his
comrades, engaged several enemy airmen at once. He sent one tumbling
to earth, and had forced the others off when two more attacked him. Such a
fight is a matter of seconds, and one cannot clearly see what passes. Luf-
bery and Prince, whom Chapman had defended so gallantly, regained the
French lines. They told us of the combat, and we waited on the field for
Chapman's return. He was always the last in, so we were not much wor-
ried. Then a pilot from another escadrille telephoned us that he had seen a
Nieuport falling. A little later the observer of a reconnaissance plane called
up and told us that he had witnessed Chapman's fall. The wings of the plane
had buckled, he said, and it had dropped like a stone.
We talked in lowered voices after that: we could read the pain in one
another's eyes. If only it could have been some one else, was what we all
thought, I suppose. To lose Victor was not an irreparable loss to us merely,
but to France, and to the world. I kept thinking of him lying over there, and
of the oranges he was taking to Balsley. As I left the field, I caught sight of
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THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT
Victor's mechanician leaning against the end of our hangar. He was looking
northward into the sky where his patron had vanished, and his face was very
sad.
By this time Prince and Bert Hall had been made adjutants, and we cor-
porals promoted sergeants. The next impressive event (June 28, 1916) was
the awarding of decorations. We had assisted at that ceremony for Cow-
din at Luxeuil, but this time three of our messmates were to be honored for
the Germans they had brought down. Rockwell and Hall received the
Medaille Militaire and the Croix de Guerre, and Thaw, being a lieutenant,
the Legion d'Honneur and another palm for the ribbon of the Croix de Guerre
he had won previously. Thaw, who came up from Paris for the presentation,
still carried his arm in a sling. There were also decorations for Chapman, but
poor Victor, who so often had been cited in the Orders of the Day, was not on
hand to receive them.
VERDUN TO THE SOMME
We had been fighting above the battle-fields of Verdun from the 20th of
May, 1916, until orders came the middle of September for us to leave our
planes, for a unit which was to replace us, and to report at Le Bourget, the
great Paris aviation center.
The mechanics and the rest of the personnel left, as usual, in the esca-
drilWs trucks with the material. For once the pilots did not take the aerial
THE SQUADRON IN AUGUST. 1916
Lieutenant de Laage de Meux, Johnson, Rumsey, McConnell. Thaw, Lufbery, Kiffin Rockwell, Masson
Norman Prince, Bert Hall
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THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT
route, but they boarded the Paris express at Bar-le-Duc with all the enthu-
siasm of schoolboys off for a vacation. They were to have a week in the
capital! Where they were to go after that, they did not know, but presumed
it would be the Somme. As a matter of fact the escadrille was to be sent to
Luxeuil in the Vosges to take part in the Mauser raid.
Besides Captain Thenault and Lieutenant de Laage de Meux, our French
officers, the following American pilots were in the escadrille at this time:
Lieutenant Thaw, who had returned to the Front, even though his wounded
arm had not entirely healed; Adjutants Norman Prince, Bert Hall, Raoul
Lufbery, and Didier Masson; and Sergeants Kiffin Rockwell, Dudley Hill,
Paul Pavelka, C. C. Johnson, and Lawrence Rumsey. I had been sent to a
hospital at the end of August, because of a lame back resulting from a
smash-up in landing, and could n't follow until later.
Every aviation unit boasts several mascots. Dogs of every description
are to be seen around the camps, but the Americans managed, during their
stay in Paris, to add to their menagerie by the acquisition of a lion cub named
"Whiskey." The little chap had been born on a boat crossing from Africa
and was advertised for sale in France. Some of the American pilots bought
him. He was a bright-eyed baby lion who tried to roar in a most threatening
manner, but who was blissfully content the moment one gave him one's
finger to suck. "Whiskey" had a good view of Paris during the few days he
was there.. Like most lions in captivity, he became acquainted with bars,
but the sort "Whiskey" saw were not for purposes of confinement.
The orders came directing the escadrille to Luxeuil, and we boarded the
Belfort train with bag and baggage — and the lion. Lions, it developed, were
not allowed in passenger coaches. The conductor was assured that "Whis-
key" was quite harmless and was going to overlook the rules when the cub
began to roar and tried to get at the railwayman's finger. That settled it,
so two men had to stay behind in order to crate up "Whiskey" and take him
along the next day.
The escadrille was joined in Paris by Robert Rockwell, of Cincinnati, who
had finished his training as a pilot, and was waiting at the Reserve.
When the Squadron arrived at Luxeuil, it found there a large British avia-
tion contingent. This detachment from the Royal Navy Flying Corps num-
bered more than fifty pilots and a thousand enlisted men. New hangars
harbored their fleet of bombardment machines. Their own anti-aircraft
batteries were in emplacements near the field. Though detached from the
British forces and under French command, this unit followed the rule of
His Majesty's armies in France by receiving all of its food and supplies from
England. It had its own transport service.
Our escadrille had been in Luxeuil during the months of April and May.
We had made many friends among the townspeople and the French aviators
stationed there, so the older Pilots were welcomed with open arms and their
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WHISKEY AND SODA. THE SQUADRON MASCOTS
WHISKEY AND SODA CHANGING SECTORS
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THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT
new comrades made to feel at home in the quaint Vosges town. It was not
long, however, before the Americans and the British got together. At first
there was a feeling of reserve on both sides, but once acquainted they be-
came fast friends. The naval pilots were quite representative of the United
Kingdom, hailing as they did from England, Canada, New South Wales,
South Africa, and other parts of the Empire. Most of them were soldiers by
profession. All were officers, but they were as democratic as it is possible to
be. As a result there was a continuous exchange of dinners.
There was trouble in getting new airplanes. Only five arrived. They were
the new model Nieuport. Instead of having only 140 square feet of support-
ing surface, they had 160, and the forty-seven-shot Lewis machine gun had
been replaced by the Vickers. This gun is mounted on the hood and by
means of a timing-gear shoots through the propeller. The 160-foot Nieuport
mounts at a terrific rate, rising to 7000 feet in six minutes. It will go to 20,000
feet handled by a skillful pilot.
It was some time before these planes arrived and every one was idle.
There was nothing to do but loaf at the hotel, where the American pilots
were quartered, visit the British in their barracks at the field, or go walking.
It was about as much like war as a Bryan lecture. While I was in the hos-
pital I received a letter written at this time from one of the boys. I opened
it expecting to read of an air combat. It informed me that Thaw had caught
a trout three feet long, and that Lufbery had picked two baskets of mush-
rooms.
Kiffin Rockwell and Lufbery were the first to get their new machines
ready, and on the 23d of September went out for the first flight since the
escadrille had arrived at Luxeuil. They became separated in the air, but
each flew on alone, which was a dangerous thing to do in the Alsace sector.
There is but little fighting in the trenches there, but great activity in the air.
Due to the British and French squadrons at Luxeuil, and the threat their
presence implied, the Germans had to oppose them by large forces. I believe
there were more than forty Fokkers alone in the camps of Colmar and
Habsheim. Observation machines protected by two or three fighting planes
would venture far into our lines. It is something the Germans dared not
do on any other part of the Front. They had a special trick that consisted
in sending a large, slow observation machine into our lines to invite attack.
When a French plane would dive after it, two Fokkers, that had been hover-
ing high overhead, would drop on the tail of the Frenchman and he stood
but small chance if caught in the trap.
Just before Kiffin Rockwell reached the lines he saw a German machine
under him flying at 11,000 feet. Rockwell had fought more combats than the
rest of us put together, and had shot down several German machines that
had fallen in their lines, but this was the first time he had had an oppor-
tunity of bringing down a Boche in our territory.
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THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT
A Captain, the commandant of an Alsatian village, watched the aerial
battle through his field-glasses. He said that Rockwell approached so close
to the enemy that he thought there would be a collision. The German craft,
which carried two machine guns, had opened a rapid fire when Rockwell
started his dive. He plunged through the stream of lead and only when very
close to his enemy did he begin shooting. For a second it looked as though
the German was falling, so the Captain said, but then he saw the French
machine turn rapidly nose down, the wings of one side broke off and flut-
tered in the wake of the airplane, which hurtled earthward in a rapid drop.
It crashed into the ground in a small field — a field of flowers — a few
hundred yards back of the trenches. It was not more than two and a half
miles from the spot where Rockwell, in the month of May, brought down
his first enemy machine. The Germans immediately opened up on the
wreck with artillery fire. In spite of the bursting shrapnel, gunners from
a near-by battery rushed out and recovered poor Rockwell's broken body.
There was a hideous wound in his breast where an explosive bullet had torn
through. A surgeon, who examined the body, testified that if it had been an
ordinary bullet, Rockwell would have had an even chance of landing with
only a bad wound. As it was, he was killed the instant the unlawful missile
exploded.
Lufbery engaged a German craft, but before he could get to close range
two Fokkers swooped down from behind and filled his aeroplane full of
holes. Exhausting this ammunition he landed at Fontaine, an aviation
field near the lines. There he learned of Rockwell's death and was told that
two other French machines had been brought down within the hour. He
ordered his gasoline tank filled, procured a full band of cartridges, and went
out to avenge his comrade. He sped up and down the lines, and made a wide
detour to Habsheim where the Germans have an aviation field, but all to
no avail. Not a Boche was in the air.
The news of Rockwell's death was telephoned to the escadrille. The Cap-
tain, Lieutenant, and a couple of men jumped into a staff car and hastened
to where he had fallen. On their return, the American pilots were convened
in a room of the hotel and the news was broken to them. With tears in his
eyes the Captain said: "The best and bravest of us all is no more."
No greater blow could have befallen the escadrille. Kiffin was its soul.
He was loved and looked up to not only by every man in our corps, but by
every one who knew him. Kiffin was imbued with the spirit of the cause for
which he fought and gave his heart and soul to the performance of his duty.
The old flame of chivalry burned brightly in this boy's fine and sensitive
being. With his death France lost one of her most valuable pilots. When he
was over the lines the Germans did not pass — and he was over them most
of the time.
The night before he was killed, he had stated that if he were brought down
[29]
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CAPTAIN THfeNAULT AND FRAM
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THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT
he would like to be buried where he fell. It was impossible, however, to place
him in a grave so near the trenches. His body was draped in a French flag
and brought back to Luxeuil. He was given a funeral worthy of a general.
His brother, Paul, who had fought in the Legion with him, and who had been
rendered unfit for service by a wound, was granted permission to attend
the obsequies. Pilots from all near-by camps flew over to render homage to
Rockwell's remains. Every Frenchman in the Aviation at Luxeuil marched
behind the bier. The British pilots, followed by a detachment of five hun-
dred of their men, were in line, and a battalion of French troops brought
up the rear. As the slow-moving procession of blue- and khaki-clad men
passed from the church to the graveyard, airplanes circled at a feeble height
above and showered down myriads of flowers.
Rockwell's death urged the rest of the men to greater action, and the few
who had machines were constantly after the Boches. Prince brought one
down. Lufbery, the most skillful and successful fighter in the escadrille,
would venture far into the enemy's lines and spiral down over a German
aviation camp, daring the pilots to venture forth. Prince, out in search of
a combat, ran into a crowd of them Lufbery had aroused. Bullets cut into
his machine, and one exploding on the front edge of a lower wing broke
it. Another shattered a supporting mast. It was a miracle that the machine
did not give way. As badly battered as it was, Prince succeeded in bringing
it back from over Mulhouse, where the fight occurred, to his field at Luxeuil.
The same day Lufbery missed death by a very small margin. He had
taken on more gasoline and made another sortie. When over the lines again
he encountered a German with whom he had a fighting acquaintance.
Lufbery maneuvered for position, but, before he could shoot, the Teuton
would evade him by a clever turn. They kept after one another, the Boche
retreating into his lines. When they were nearing Habsheim, Lufbery
glanced back and saw French shrapnel bursting over the trenches. It meant
a German plane was over French territory and it was his duty to drive it
off. Swooping down near his adversary he waved good-bye, the enemy pilot
did likewise and Lufbery whirred off to chase the other German. He caught
up with him and dove to the attack, but he was surprised by an enemy he
had not seen. Before he could escape, three bullets entered his motor, two
passed through the fur-lined combination he wore, another ripped open one
of his woolen flying boots, his airplane was riddled from wing tip to wing
tip, and other bullets cut the elevating plane. Had he not been an excep-
tional aviator, he never would have brought safely to earth so badly dam-
aged a machine. It was so thoroughly shot up that it was junked as being
beyond repairs. Fortunately Lufbery was over French territory or his forced
descent would have resulted in his being made prisoner.
The uncertain wait at Luxeuil finally came to an end on the 12th of
October, for the bombardment of Oberndorf was on. British, French, and
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THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT
American machines were to take part in it.The pilots were given their orders
just before the start. The English in their single-seater Sopwiths, which
carried four bombs each, were the first to leave followed by the French
Breguets and Farmans with their tons of explosive destined for the Mauser
works. The fighting machines, which were to convoy them as far as the
Rhine, rapidly gained height and circled above their charges. Four of the
battleplanes were from the Escadrille Americaine. They were piloted by
Lieutenant de Laage, Lufbery, Norman Prince, and Masson.
The Germans were taken by surprise, and as a result few of their ma-
chines were in the air. The bombardment fleet was attacked, however, and
six of its planes shot down, some of them falling in flames. Baron, the famous
French night bombarder, lost his life in one of the Farmans. Two Germans
were brought down by machines they attacked and the four pilots from the
Escadrille Americaine accounted for one each. Lieutenant de Laage shot
down his Boche as it was attacking another French machine, and Masson
did likewise.
As the fuel capacity of a Nieuport allows but little more than two hours
in the air, the avions de chasse were forced to return to their own lines to
take on more gasoline, while the bombardment planes continued on into
Germany. The Sopwiths arrived first at Oberndorf. Dropping low over the
Mauser works they discharged their bombs and headed homeward. All ar-
rived, save one, whose pilot lost his way and came ,to earth in Switzerland.
When the Breguets and Farmans arrived, they saw only flames and smoke
where once the rifle factory stood. They unloaded their explosives on the
burning mass.
The Nieuports, having refilled their tanks, went up to clear the air of
Germans hovering in wait for the returning raiders. Prince found one and
shot it down. Lufbery came upon three. He dove for one, making it drop
below the others, then forcing a second to descend, attacked the one re-
maining above. The combat was short, and at the end of it the German
tumbled to earth. This made the fifth enemy machine which was officially
credited to Lufbery, and he was thereafter mentioned by name in the of-
ficial communiques.
Darkness came rapidly on, but Prince and Lufbery remained in the air
to protect the bombardment fleet. Just at nightfall, Lufbery made for a
small aviation field near the lines, known as Corcieux. Slow-moving ma-
chines, with great planing capacity, can be landed in the dark, but to try
and feel for the ground in a Nieuport is to court disaster. Ten minutes after
Lufbery landed, Prince decided to make for the field. He spiraled down and
skimmed rapidly over the trees bordering the Corcieux field. In the dark
he did not see a high-tension electric cable that was stretched just above
the tree-tops. The landing gear of his airplane struck it. The machine
snapped forward and hit the ground on its nose. It turned over and over.
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Standing: Soubiran, A. C. Campbell. Parsons, Bridgman. Dugan, MacMonagle, Lovell, Willis, Henry Jones
Peterson. Lieutenant Maison-Rouge
Seated: Hill, Masson. Thaw, Captain Thenault. Lufbery, C. C. Johnson, Bigelow, Robert Rockwell
Standing: Doolittle, Campbell. Parsons, Bridgman, Dugan. MacMonagle. Willis. Jones. Peterson
Seated: Masson, Thaw. Thenault, Lufbery, Johnson, Bigelow, Robert Rockwell
THE ESCADRILLE AT CHAUDUN (AISNE), JULY, 1917
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THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT
The belt holding Prince broke and he was thrown far from the wrecked
plane. Both of his legs were broken and he suffered internal injuries. In spite
of the terrific shock and his intense pain, Prince did not lose conscious-
ness. He even kept his presence of mind and gave orders to the men who
had run to pick him up. Hearing the hum of a motor, and realizing a ma-
chine was in the air, Prince told them to light gasoline fires on the field.
"Don't let another fellow come down and break himself up the way I've
done," he said.
Lufbeiy went with Prince to the hospital in Gerardmer. As the ambulance
rolled along, Prince sang to keep up his spirits. He spoke of getting well soon
and returning to service. It was like Norman. He was always energetic
about his flying. Even when he passed through the harrowing experience
of having a wing shattered, the first thing he did on landing was to busy
himself about getting another fitted in place and the next morning he was
in the air again.
No one thought that Prince was mortally injured, but the next day he
went into a coma. A blood clot had formed on his brain. Captain Happe,
in command of the aviation groups of Luxeuil, accompanied by our officers,
hastened to Gerardmer. Prince, lying unconscious on his bed, was named a
second lieutenant and decorated with the Legion of Honor. He already held
the Medaille Militaire and Croix de Guerre. He died on the 15th of October.
He was brought back to Luxeuil and given a funeral similar to Rockwell's.
It was hard to realize that Norman had gone. He never let his own spirits
drop, and was always ready with encouragement for others.
Two days after Prince's death, the escadrille received orders to leave for
the Somme. The night before the departure the British gave the American
pilots a farewell banquet and toasted them as their "Guardian Angels."
They keenly appreciated the fact that four men from the Escadrille Ameri-
caine had brought down four Germans, and had cleared the way for their
squadron returning from Oberndorf. When the train pulled out the next
day, the station platform was packed by khaki-clad pilots waving good-
bye to their friends the "Yanks."
The escadrille passed through Paris on its way to the Somme Front. The
few members who had machines flew from Luxeuil to their new post. At
Paris the pilots were reinforced by three other American boys who had
completed their training. They were Fred Prince, who ten months before
had come over from Boston to serve in aviation with his brother Norman;
Willis Haviland, of Chicago; and Robert Soubiran, of New York.
Before its arrival on the Somme, the escadrille had always been quartered
in towns, and the life of the pilots was all that could be desired in the way of
comforts. We had, as a result, come to believe that we should wage only a
de luxe war, and were unprepared for any other sort of campaigning. The
introduction to the Somme was a rude awakening. Instead of being quar-
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THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT
tered in a villa or hotel, we were directed to a portable barracks newly
erected in a sea of mud.
It was set in a cluster of similar barns nine miles from the nearest town.
A sieve was a water-tight compartment in comparison with that elongated
shed. The damp cold penetrated through every crack, chilling one to the
bone. There were no blankets, and until they were procured the pilots had
to curl up in their flying-clothes. There were no arrangements for cooking
and the Americans depended on the
other escadrilles for food. Eight fight-
ing units were located at the same
field and our ever-generous French
comrades saw to it that no one went
hungry. The thick mist, for which
the Somme is famous, hung like a
pall over the birdmen's nest dampen-
ing both the clothes and spirits of
the men.
Something had to be done, so
Thaw and Masson, who is our Chef
de Popote (President of the Mess),
obtained permission to go to Paris
in one of our light trucks. They re-
turned with cooking-utensils, a stove,
and other necessary things. All hands
set to work, and as a result life was
made bearable. In fact I was sur-
prised to find the quarters as good
as they were when I rejoined the
escadrille a couple of weeks after its
arrival in the Somme. Outside of the
cold, mud, and dampness, it was n't sampson. the cook of the n. 114
so bad. The barracks had been par-
titioned off into little rooms leaving a large space for a dining-hall. The
stove was set up there, and all animate life from the lion cub to the pilots cen-
tered around it.
The eight escadrilles of fighting machines formed an interesting colony.
The large canvas hangars were surrounded by the house tents of their re-
spective escadrilles; wooden barracks for the men and pilots were in close
proximity, and between the encampments of the various units were the
tents of the commanding officers. In addition there was a bath-house and
the power plant which generated electric light for the tents and barracks;
and in one very popular tent was the community bar, the profits from which
were sent to the Red Cross.
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THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT
We had never before been grouped with so many combat squadrons, nor
at a field so near the Front. We sensed the war to better advantage than at
Luxeuil or Bar-le-Duc. When there is activity on the lines, the rumble of
heavy artillery reaches us in a heavy volume of sound. From the field one
can see the line of observation balloons, and beyond them distant patrols,
darting like swallows in the sharpnel puffs of anti-aircraft fire. The roar of
motors that are being tested is punctuated by the staccato barking of ma-
chine guns, and at intervals the hollow, whistling sound of a fast plane diving
to earth is added to this symphony of war notes.
The Squadron arrived at the aerodrome at Cachy on the Somme, six
months after its original muster at Luxeuil. Its work at the Front during
this period may be summarized briefly: one hundred and fifty-six com-
bats had been fought and seventeen of the enemy machines shot down
had been officially confirmed as destroyed. These victories came in the
following order:
1. May 18, 1916 Kiffin Rockwell
2. May 23, 1916 Bert Hall
3. May 24, 1916 William Thaw
4. July 21, 1916. . . .Sous-Lt. Nungesser
5. July 23, 1916 Bert Hall
6. July 27, 1916 Lt. de Laage de Meux
7. July 31, 1916 Raoul Lufbery
8. August 4, 1916. . . .Raoul Lufbery
9. August 4, 1916 Raoul Lufbery
10. August 8, 1916 Raoul Lufbery
11. August 28, 1916 Bert Hall
12. September 9, 1916. . . .Norman Prince
13. September 9, 1916 Kiffin Rockwell
14. October 10, 1916. . . .Norman Prince
15. October 12, 1916. . . .Norman Prince
16. October 12, 1916 Raoul Lufbery
17. October 12, 1916 Didier Masson
In the autumn of 1916, as a result of the activities of the American
Squadron, there occurred an incident which aroused great interest in
the United States and did much to enlist American sympathies on the
side of France. On November 16, Colonel Barres, Chief of French Avia-
tion at General Headquarters, informed Dr. Gros that the Squadron
could no longer be known as the Escadrille Americaine, but must hence-
forth be called simply the N. 124, its official military number. The follow-
ing day at the Ministry of War, Dr. Gros learned the reason. Herr Bern-
storfF, the German Ambassador at Washington, called the attention of
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THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT
the American Government to the fact that Americans were fighting with
the French and that the French communiques often contained mention
of an American escadrille. He protested in the name of the German
Government. This protest gave rise, presumably, to a dispatch from
AT THE AERO CLUB OF FRANCE, JUNE 14, 1917
Seated: Lieut. Deuillin. Capt. Heurteaux. Capt. Guynemer. Sous-Lieut. Tarascon, Capt. Wateau.
Standing: Adj. Jailler, Sergent Lovell. Lieut. Lufbery, Sergent Johnson, Sergent Haviland. Capt.
Thenault, Sergent Willis, Sous-Lieut. Languedoc, Lieut. Tourtay, Sous- Lieut. Varcin, Lieut. Thaw
Washington to the French Ministry of War, and this, in turn, to the
following letter from French General Headquarters:
The Commander-in-chief
To the General Commanding the Armies of the North
Villers-Bretonneux.
By decision No. 9,7630, the Ministry of War has decided that for diplo-
matic reasons the Escadrille N.124 should be called the Escadrille des Vol-
ontaires, and that name Escadrille Americaine, in use at present, must be
given up. Will you be kind enough to communicate this decision to the
Commanding Officer of the 13th Combat Group, and to give orders that
only the name Escadrille des Volontaires be used.
(Signed) Poindron
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THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT
Calling at the Ministry of War a few days later, Dr. Gros had an inter-
view with Captain Bertaud, who told him that the title "Escadrille des
Volontaires" was being considered for the Squadron. Dr. Gros found this
too colorless, and finally, at his suggestion, the name "Escadrille Lafay-
ette" was agreed upon. This is the origin of the title which will go down
in history as the name of the American Squadron which fought under the
French flag for nearly two years, and which afterward became the 103d
Pursuit, the first squadron at the Front, of the U.S. Air Service.
LOVELL, GENET, LUFBERY. AND McCONNELL, SAINT-JUST. FEBRUARY, 1917
The Squadron was now incorporated in Groupe de Combat 13, which
comprised the following escadrilles de chasse: N. 15, N. 65, N. 84, and
N. 124. N.88 was afterward added to the groupe. The letter "N" was the
designation of all French combat squadrons, an abbreviation for "Nieu-
port," which was the name of the single-passenger pursuit machine then
in use. In the winter of 1916, the Nieuport began to be superseded by
the Spad (an abbreviation for Societe pour F Aviation et ses Derives, the
company which perfected this new craft) until, by the spring of 1917,
many French squadrons were entirely equipped with the new planes.
Even before the change in plane equipment, there had been a change in
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Saint- Pol-aur-Mer
Cachy (Somme)
Ham (Somme)
AERODROMES OF TH
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La Ferme de la Noblette, Champagne
Luxeuil (Vosges)
Saint- Just (Somme)
ADRILLE LAFAYETTE
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THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT
armament. The Lewis guns, mounted on the top plane, gave place to the
Vickers, mounted on the hood over the motor, and firing directly through
the circle made by the revolving blades of the propeller. By the middle
of the summer of 191 7, the Escadrille Lafayette was wholly a Spad
squadron. The 13th Combat Group moved from sector to sector follow-
ing the needs of the military situation, so that the pilots of the Spad 124
had a wide experience of war-time aviation on all parts of the Western
Front. From the date of its organization until its transfer to the U.S.
Air Service, it has operated on the following sectors:
April 20 to May 19, 1916 Luxeuil (Haute Saone) Vosges Sector
May 20 to September 14, 1916 Bar-le-Duc (Meuse) Verdun Sector
September 15 to October 18, 1916 Luxeuil (Haute-Saone) Vosges Sector
October 19, 1916 to January 26, 1917 Cachy (Somme) Somme Sector
January 27 to April 7, 191 7 Saint-Juste (Oise) Oise and Aisne Sectors
April 8 to June 3, 1917 Ham (Somme) Somme Sector
June 4 to July 17, 1917 Chaudun (Aisne) Aisne Sector
July 18 to August 12, 1917 Saint-Pol-sur-Mer (Nord) Flanders Sector
August 13, to September 28, 191 7 Senard (Meuse) Verdun Sector
September 29 to December 5, 191 7 Chaudun (Aisne) Aisne Sector
December 6, 1917 to February 18, 1918. . .La Cheppe and La Ferme
de la Noblette (Marne) . . . Champagne Sector
On August 3, 1917, while Group 13 was at Saint-Pol-sur-Mer, cooperat-
ing with the British in their Flanders offensive, Commandant Fequant
made the following report on the work of the Escadrille Lafayette, in a
proposition sent to General Headquarters, favoring the citation of the
Squadron as a unit:
The Escadrille N. 124, first called the "Escadrille Americaine, " then the
"Escadrille des Volontaires," and finally the "Escadrille Lafayette," was
formed under the command of Captain Georges Thenault on the 15th day
of March, 1916.
All of the pilots, excepting only the Captain and a French Lieutenant, are
American citizens serving as volunteers for the duration of the war. The to-
tal flying personnel (including the commanding officer) has been in the neigh-
borhood of
9 pilots from April 20 to May 1, 1916.
12 pilots from May, 1916, to March, 1917.
15 to 20 pilots, from March, 1917, to the present time.
Moved by the finest spirit of sacrifice, the Squadron has rendered effective
service, first in Alsace where it participated in protecting large bombard-
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THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT
ment expeditions sent beyond the Rhine; then, at Verdun where it was called
upon to take part in the heaviest fighting. In October, 1916, it was sent to
the Somme to fight against the most powerful aerial forces which the Ger-
man High Commaiid could levy. On the Oise it played an active role during
the German retreat toward Saint-Quentin. The long-distance reconnais-
sances made by its pilots kept the
French command in close touch with
the enemy. It was engaged on the
Aisne during the Soissons offensive
of 1 91 7 and is now operating on the
Front in Flanders.
Without mentioning the valuable
reconnaissance flights or photo-
graphic missions, made in their
single-passenger machines, or the
daily combats of less importance,
the pilots of the Squadron have had
325 combats under conditions so
hard and trying that they have often
returned from them with their ma-
chines riddled with bullets.
Twenty-eight enemy machines
have been shot down in our lines or
destroyed in their own. A much larger
number have been forced to land in
the enemy lines after combat, in
badly damaged condition.
Up to the present four Croix de
Legion (THonneur* seven Medailles
COMMANDANT FEQUANT, CAPTAIN THfiNAULT w-ir. ' ^.L* \. . • * »f\ J
lieut. thaw, and sous-lieut. lufbery Mtlttaires, thirty citations a I Urare
de YArm'ee and one a VOrdre de
V Aeronautique have been awarded to the pilots for their exploits.
They have paid dearly for their successes. Nine pilots have been killed,
five wounded, and several others, worn out in service, have had to be evacu-
ated. These losses have increased, rather than diminished their ardor. The
vacant places have been filled by other Americans eager to avenge their com-
rades. The splendid spirit of the Escadrille Lafayette and its devotion to duty
has been a matter for pride to all Americans and has helped to bring their
country to our aid in the war. The spirit of sacrifice of these men, who came
as volunteers to fight for us, is revealed in the last words of those who have
been killed. All of them said that they would gladly give their lives in the serv-
ice of France. Their example has raised the morale even of the pilots in the
French squadrons who have fought at their side. In order, then, to reward in
[40]
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THE FIRST CITATION OF THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE
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THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT
some measure, the Escadrille Lafayette for the valor of its pilots and for its
success as a squadron, I ask that it be cited to the order of the army.
On the 15th of August, 1917, the Squadron was cited in the following
terms:
Grand Quartier General, £tat-Major Le 15 aout, 1917
Le General Commandant en Chef cite a POrdre de l'Armee, PEscadrille
N.124 (Escadrille Lafayette).
Escadrille composee de volontaires americalns, venus se battre pour la
France avec le plus pur esprit de sacrifice.
A mene sans cesse, sous le commandement du Capitaine Thenault, qui Pa
formee, une lutte ardente contre nos ennemis.
Dans des combats tres durs et au prix de pertes qui, loin de Paffaiblir, exal-
taient son morale, a abattu 28 avions adverses.
A excite Padmiration profonde des Chefs qui Pont eue sous leurs ordres et
des escadrilles fran^aises qui, combattant a ses cotes, ont voulu rivaliser de
valeur avec die. {S{gnf) p^^
After America's declaration of war, the Executive Committee of the
Lafayette Corps decided that the pilots of the Escadrille Lafayette, as
well as all of those Americans serving in other French squadrons, should
be asked to offer their services to the United States Government. The
final decision was left wholly to the men themselves, and it was a difficult
one to make. While all of them were eager to serve their own country,
they were reluctant to leave the service of France. They had formed last-
ing friendships with their French comrades, and had come to think of
France as a second mother country, almost as dear to them as their own.
After many long conferences held in barracks on rainy days, and between
patrol hours, the pilots of the Lafayette Squadron decided that their first
duty was to their own land; and that, inasmuch as the French Govern-
ment had expressed its willingness to release them, they would offer their
services as a unit to the United States. This was done in the late autumn
of 1917. They were officially released from the French Army in Decem-
ber, but as many of them did not receive notification of their American
commissions until January or February, 191 8, they continued to serve
at the Front as civilians, still wearing their French uniforms. During
this time the Squadron, which was then stationed at La Ferme de la
Noblette on the Champagne Front, remained with Groupe de Combat 13
as a French unit.
[42]
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ARRIVAL OF THE AMERICAN MECHANICS, ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE, FEBRUARY 17. 1918
THE QUARTERS OF THE AMERICAN MECHANICS. LA FERME DE LA NOBLETTE
(CHAMPAGNE SECTOR)
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THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT
On February 18, 1918, under the provisions of a curious and interesting
agreement between the French and American armies, the Escadrille
Lafayette became the 103d Pursuit Squadron of the U.S. Air Service,
retaining a detachment of French mechanics to instruct the newly ar-
rived American non-flying personnel in their duties. A clause in the
agreement, which states that the average annual cost of keeping one Spad
in service at the Front was 313,865 francs, illustrates the enormous
expense of military aviation. The Squadron, still under French orders,
was attached to the Groupe de Combat 15, for at that time there were no
other American squadrons ready for service. The pilots were: Ray C.
Bridgman, Charles H. Dolan, Jr., William E. Dugan, Jr., Christopher W.
Ford, James N. Hall, Dudley L. Hill, Henry S. Jones, Kenneth Marr,
David McK. Peterson, Robert L. Rockwell, and Robert Soubiran, under
command of Major William Thaw. To this number were added Phelps
Collins, Paul F. Baer, Charles J. Biddle, C. Maury Jones, George E.
Turnure, Jr., and Charles H. Wilcox, who had received their American
commissions and had been sent from their French squadrons for further
duty with the Escadrille Lafayette.
It had been the hope of the pilots of the Squadron that they might
be kept together as a unit, but this was not to be. By the early summer of
1918, many of them were scattered through the new American squad-
rons, as commanding officers and flight leaders. A few of them were left
with the 103d, which became a training squadron at the Front for new
pilots. Many Americans, who afterward became flight and squadron
commanders gained their first experience and their first successes in
combat in the old Escadrille Lafayette.
From February 18 to April 9, 191 8, the Squadron operated first with
the 15th and then with the 21st Combat Group, with the Fourth French
Army. From April 10 to April 30, with the Sixth French Army, and from
May 1 to June 30, with the French D.A.N. From July 1 to August 6,
it was incorporated in the 2d Pursuit Group attached to the First Army,
A.E.F., and from August 7 until the Armistice, in the 3d Pursuit, First
Army, A.E.F. During the period of its service as an American squadron,
forty-five enemy planes and two observation balloons were shot down
and their destruction officially confirmed; and eighty-two others were
probably destroyed. Twenty-five of these officially confirmed victories
were gained by pilots who formerly belonged to the Lafayette Corps.
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THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT
On October 28, 1918, the Squadron was again cited in French Army
Orders for its work during the final summer of the war. The text of the
citation is as follows:
Grand Quartier General des Armees
du Nord et du Nord-Est, £tat-Major Ordre No. 10,805 < ^' [Extrait]
Apres approbation du General Commandant en Chef les Forces Expedi-
tionnaires americaines en France, le General Commandant en Chef les Ar-
mees fran^aises du Nord et du Nord-Est, cite a l'Ordre de TArmee:
ESCADRILLE AMERICAINE "LAFAYETTE"
Brillante unite, commandee par le Major Thaw, qui s'est montree au cours
des operations dans les Flandres, digne de son glorieux passe. Sans se laisser
arreter par des pertes atteignant le tiers de son effectif, a assure dans un sec-
teur difficile une securite parfaite a nos avions de corps d'armee, un service
de reconnaissance a haute et a basse altitude des plus complets et la de-
struction, tant pres de nos lignes qu'a grande distance chez Pennemi, d'un
tres grand nombre d'avions et de ballons captifs allemands.
Au Grand Quartier General, le 22 Octobre, 1918.
Le General Commandant en Chef
(Signe) Petain
After the signing of the Armistice the 103d Pursuit Squadron was
chosen as one of those to be sent into Germany with the Army of Occu-
pation. This announcement was made in General Order No. 17:
Headquarters, First Pursuit Wing
Air Service, A.E.F.
General Order November 16, 191 8
1. The 103d Aero Squadron, Third Pursuit Group, will hold itself in
readiness to move at any moment to join the First Pursuit Group and pro-
ceed into Germany.
2. This honor has been conferred upon the 103d Aero Squadron for its
long and faithful service with French and American armies.
3. The Wing Commander takes this opportunity of expressing his pleas-
ure at having this Squadron under his command. The Lafayette Escadrille,
organized long before the entry of the United States into the European war,
played an important part in bringing home to our people the basic issues of
the war. To the French people of future generations the names of its organ-
izers and early pilots must mean what the names of Lafayette and Rocham-
beau mean to us Americans of this generation. To mention only a few, the
names of Norman Prince, Kiffin Rockwell, James McConnell, Victor Chap-
[45 J
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THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT THE FRONT
man, Captain James Norman Hall, Major Kenneth Marr, Major David McK.
Peterson, Major Raoul Lufbery, and Lieut. Colonel William Thaw, are
never to be forgotten. In February last the Lafayette Escadrille of the French
army was transferred to the 103d Aero Squadron, United States Army. It
was the first, and for nearly two months it was the only American Air Serv-
ice organization on the Front. Since that time it is not too much to say that
pilots who served in this Squadron have formed the backbone of American
Pursuit Aviation on the Front. The Squadron produced two of America's
four Pursuit Group Commanders as well as a very large proportion of the
Squadron and flight commanders. While giving thus liberally of its exper-
ienced personnel to new units the standard of merit of this Squadron has
not been lowered. No task was too arduous or too hazardous for it to per-
form successfully. In the recent decisive operations of the First American
Army the 103d Aero Squadron has done it's share.
4. The Wing Commander congratulates Captain Soubiran, Squadron
Commander, 103d Aero Squadron and all of his personnel, commissioned
and enlisted. No other organization in the American army has a right to
such a high measure of satisfaction in feeling it's difficult task has been
performed. So long as the personnel bears in mind the record the Squadron
has established there can be no other prospect for it than that of a splendid
future.
B. M. Atkinson
Lt. Col. y Air Service, U.S.A.
Commanding
The order was rescinded, however. It was decided that the Lafayette
Squadron which had been continuously on active duty since April 20,
1916, fighting under the flags of both France and America, had earned
the right to be released from further service abroad. It was therefore
placed under orders to return to America.
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THE LAFAYETTE FLYING CORPS
BEFORE the Escadrille Americaine had been on the Front six
weeks, the exploits of the volunteers began to attract world-wide
attention, and it became evident to the Committee that with hard
work and the necessary funds there were great possibilities ahead. It
was at this time that the Franco-American Flying Corps (later the Lafay-
ette Flying Corps) came into being. Around the original committee of
three a larger Executive Committee had already been formed, to handle
the finances and other business of the Corps. It was composed as follows:
Honorary President:
President:
Vice-President,
Director for France, and
Examining Physician:
Treasurers:
Assistant Treasurer:
Secretary:
Bankers:
Director for America:
}
Mr. William K. Vanderbilt
M. Jarousse de Sillac
Dr. Edmund L. Gros
( Mr. Lawrence Slade
( Colonel Bentley Mott
Mr. Arthur G. Evans
Mrs. Edward P. Ovington
Bonbright & Company
Mr. (later Lieutenant-Commander) Frederick
Allen
Mr. F. J. McClure
Mr. Philip Carrol
Mr. Henry Earle
Mr. George F. Tyler
^Mr. Charles Greene
M. Leon Bourgeois
M. Gaston Menier
General Hirschauer
Colonel Bouttieaux
^ Mr. Robert Bacon
Theodore Roosevelt, Astor Chanler, Robert Glendinning, Pierre
Etienne Flandin, Rene Besnard, and Louis Dumesnil completed the
group which assisted in the work, and prepared a pamphlet with the
[47]
American Representatives :
Honorary Members:
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THE LAFAYETTE FLYING CORPS
view of calling to the attention of the Americans the requirements for
enlistment in the French Aviation.
Headquarters for the Corps at 15 avenue des Champs Elysees were
provided through the generosity of the Countess GrefFulhe, and this be-
came the meeting-place for the American volunteers passing through
Paris.
Money was required for many purposes. Many of the volunteers
needed help to pay their passages from America, and their hotel bills
while waiting in Paris for enlistment papers to go through. French army
pay was not sufficient for even the most necessary personal expenses, so
a monthly allowance was given each volunteer during his period of train-
ing and while at the Front. As the cost of living increased with the prog-
ress of the war, this allowance was raised from one hundred francs to
one hundred and fifty, and finally to two hundred francs per month.
At the time of his brevet, each man was presented with a uniform.
Funds were also necessary for the printing and distribution of pamphlets,
setting forth the work of the Corps and the justice of the French cause.
Finally — and this became an increasingly heavy as well as a pleasant
obligation — the Committee established a system of awards for citations
and decorations given the Americans for victories at the Front. It was
to Mr. William K. Vanderbilt, that the Lafayette Flying Corps owed
the financial support without which an organization of this kind cannot
exist. There were other contributors inspired by the same unselfish and
far-sighted motives — but it may be said that Mr. Vanderbilt shoul-
dered the responsibility almost single-handed. Through the entire exist-
ence of the Corps he supported it with the utmost generosity, his con-
tributions reaching a total of more than 500,000 francs.
The earlier recruits of the Corps were, in most cases, Americans who
had enlisted in the Foreign Legion (Infantry), or in the American Am-
bulance, in the early days of the war. As time went on and the organiza-
tion was perfected, many volunteers came direct from America, after
being passed upon by the representative of the Corps in New York.
Every candidate for enlistment, upon arrival in Paris, presented himself
to Dr. Gros, who examined him physically, looked into his credentials,
and sent him on to the Bureau de Recrutement at the Invalides, where he
signed his papers of enlistment in the Foreign Legion, to be detached to
the Aviation. As already mentioned, the Committee, acting through
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THE LAFAYETTE FLYING CORPS
M. de Sillac, had persuaded the French authorities to provide a special
form of enlistment, whereby Americans who proved inapt at flying could
be released outright, if they so desired, without the customary transfer to
some other branch of military service. All candidates recommended by
Dr. Gros, acting on behalf of the Committee, were accepted without
question by the military authorities, so that the prospective pilot had
only to sign his engagement and take the train for the flying school to
which he had been assigned. It speaks well for the painstaking care and
discrimination of those in charge, that in the days when the United States
was a hotbed of German agents seeking access to France, no serious sus-
picion of this kind has ever been attached to a member of the Lafayette
Flying Corps.
In connection with the terms of enlistment a question of citizenship
arose. There was naturally some worry about loss of nationality through
enlistment in a foreign army, and at last the matter was taken up with
the United States Consul-General who referred it to Washington. It was
there decided that as the volunteer did not swear allegiance to France,
only promising to obey orders and submit to discipline, he did not lose
his American citizenship.
In the autumn of 1916 occurred the diplomatic incident which led to
the name "Escadrille Lafayette," and some time afterward it was de-
cided that the name "Franco-American Flying Corps" should likewise be
changed, and that henceforth it should be known as the "Lafayette
Flying Corps." The new name was adopted and at first gave rise to some
confusion in America, as all men enlisted in the Corps were thought to be
serving in the Escadrille, which of course was not the case. Like all French
squadrons, the Escadrille Lafayette was limited to a flying personnel of
from twelve to fifteen pilots. As the Corps increased in size, it became
necessary to send the great majority of the men to French squadrons,
until, by the close of 191 7, there were Americans scattered, singly and in
twos and threes, among the French squadrons all the way from the
Channel coast to the Swiss frontier. When hostilities ceased, Lafayette
pilots had served in sixty-six escadrilles de chasse, and twenty-seven
army corps and bombardment squadrons of the French Aviation
Service.
The Lafayette was from the beginning a chasse, or pursuit, squadron.
Originally provided with the thirteen-meter Nieuports, armed with a
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THE LAFAYETTE FLYING CORPS
Lewis gun on the top plane, it changed successively to the Vickers-armed
fifteen-meter Nieuport, and to the Spad. Although it was customary to
recruit fighting pilots from among the veterans of bombing and observa-
tion work, the record of the N 124 encouraged the French to send Amer-
icans direct to the single-seaters, a high compliment to skill and initia-
tive. For this reason, most of the Lafayette men enjoyed a peculiarly
interesting form of training — the old Bleriot system. It is true that in
the summer of 19 17 a certain number were trained on Caudrons, but
the Bleriot will always be remembered as the characteristic training
machine of the Corps. Primary training on the Bleriot was given origi-
nally at Pau, later at Buc, and after January, 1917, at Avord. In this
method, one was always alone in the machine. Beginning with the tiny,
three-cylinder penguins, incapable of flight, the student was taught to
AMERICANS AT BUC. SUMMER OF 1916
roll in a straight line at full speed. This difficult art mastered, he passed
to the six-cylinder rouleurs, and from them to a machine capable of low
flights, in which he did straightaways, rising to a height of three or four
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THE LAFAYETTE FLYING CORPS
yards. From this point it was an easy step to real flying — banks, spirals,
serpentines, and finally the cross-country and altitude tests for the mili-
tary brevet. After passing the brevet, Americans were usually given a brief
M. DE SILLAC AND DR. GROS VISITING THE AMERICAN PILOTS AT AVORD, MARCH, 1917
preliminary training on Nieuport at Avord, and sent to Pau, where they
were taught to fly the service type of Nieuport, to do acrobatic flying,
and to practice combat tactics. Two or three weeks sufficed for the
course at Pau, after which the pilot was considered ready for the Front
and sent on to the G.D.E. (Groupe des Divisions (TEntrainement), at Le
Plessis-Belleville. While there he was given an opportunity to perfect
himself in handling service types of machines. Within a short time he
received his assignment to a squadron on the Front — in some cases the
Lafayette, but usually, as the Corps increased in size, to a Spad
squadron, with a flying personnel of French pilots in one of the various
groupes de combat.
The American volunteers enlisted as privates (soldats de deuxieme
classe), were made corporals on receiving the pilot's license, and sergeants
after flying thirty hours over the lines. Some, after one hundred hours,
and a certain number of combats and victories, were made adjudants,
[51 1
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THE LAFAYETTE FLYING CORPS
and a very few attained commissioned rank. The great majority, how-
ever, were N.C.O.'s, and lived with the non-commissioned pilots who
constitute the bulk of the French flyers. Side by side with the French, in
the mess, in billets, and in scores of combats over the lines, the Americans
proved themselves good comrades and first-class fighting men, as a long
list of citations and decorations shows. There have been, among the
Lafayette men, a certain number of brilliant combat pilots. Prince, Chap-
man, and Kiffin Rockwell, though killed before their lists of victories had
grown long, would have gone far had they lived. Lufbery, the greatest
figure of the Corps, was recognized as one of the keenest and most skillful
flyers in France. Baylies, a member of the famous Cigognes, the squadron
of Dorme and Guynemer, was considered a prodigy, even in that band of
aces. He was a wonderful shot, and
attacked at such close quarters and
so bitterly that each combat was a
duel to the death. Putnam, favorite
pupil of the great Madon, was an-
other famed for the reckless bitter-
ness of his attack. Always on the
offensive, he cruised far within the
enemy lines, attacking with a ruth-
lessness and a disregard of odds
which ran up his victories like magic,
and in the end led to his death.
There are others, too numerous for
individual mention here, whose rec-
ords of service on the Front are
more eloquent than any words of
praise. Among the ninety-three
pilots who transferred to the U.S.
Air Service, and those who entered
our Naval Air Service, were men of
colonel girod, commanding officer wide experience and ability, who
OF THE FRENCH AVIATION SCHOOLS , f 1 i ^ !_• i
served as a framework about which
the Pursuit Branch of our Aviation was built up, and contributed, in no
small degree, to the fine record of our Air Service on the Front.
In April, 191 7, the dearest wish of every American in France was real-
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THE LAFAYETTE FLYING CORPS
ized — our country declared war. On April 7, the following proclamation
was posted at Avord :
Paris, le 7 avril, 191 7
Le Lieutenant Colonel, Inspecteur General des
Depots et £coles d'Aviation, a Pilotes americains a Avord
Je suis sur d'etre l'interprete des sentiments de tout le personnel sous mes
ordres en saluant, a l'heure ou elle se range aux cotes des Allies dans la Ba-
taille mondiale, votre grande et belle Patrie. Deja, vous aviez devance cette
heure historique en apportant a la France le concours de vos volontes, de
vos audaces, et de vos cceurs; je vous en remercie, et avec PAviation fran-
^aise, FArmee, et toutes les Nations debout contre le crime, je m'incline de-
vant le Drapeau americain. Ses couleurs, melees aux notres, iront porter le
triomphe au ciel de la Patrie.
Nous sommes fiers de vous instruire. Vous serez fiers, avec nous, de vaincre.
(Signe) Girod
In June, General Pershing, with the first contingent of Americans,
arrived in Paris, and many a Lafayette man went absent without leave
to cheer himself hoarse at sight of his country's uniform. It was. soon
rumored that Americans in the French Service were to be transferred to
the United States Army, but it was not until September that the following
orders were issued to examine Americans in the schools.
Headquarters Air Service Line of Communications
American Expeditionary Forces
Paris, France, September 11, 191 7
[Extract]
Special Order No. 34
Par. 9. Major Edmund Gros, S.O.R.C, Major R. H. Goldthwaite, M.C.,
Lieut. R. S. Beam, M.O.R.C. will proceed from Paris, France, to French
Aviation Schools at Avord and Tours, and to the American Aviation School
at Issoudun, for the purpose of examining Americans now enlisted in French
Army with the view of their transfer to the United States Army, and ob-
taining medical history of the personnel of the American School at Issoudun.
Upon completion of this duty they will return to Paris, France.
The travel directed is necessary in the military service.
By command of Major-General Blatchford
W. C. Langfitt, Brig. Gen. U.S.A.
Chief of Staff
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THE LAFAYETTE FLYING CORPS
Major Gros, Major Goldthwaite, and Lieutenant Beam visited Avord,
Juvisy, and Tours, taking the names of Americans who desired to trans-
fer, and subjecting the candidates to a physical and mental examination
to ascertain their fitness to hold a United States Commission. On October
I, 1917, the following orders were issued, creating a special Board to
examine Americans in the French Service:
Headquarters American Expeditionary Forces,
France, October 1, 191 7
Special Order No. 113 [Extract]
Par. 3. A Board of officers to consist of:
Major Ralph H. Goldthwaite, M.C.
Major Robert Glendinning, A.S.S.O.R.C.
Major Edmund L. Gros, A.S.S.O.R.C.
Major William W. Hoffman, A.S.S.O.R.C.
is hereby convened for the examination of such American citizens, now com-
missioned or enlisted in the French Aviation Service, as may desire to ob-
tain their release from that Service for the purpose of entering the Service
of the United States. The Board will make specific recommendations in each
case, covering suitability of the applicant for service in the Air Service, Amer-
ican Expeditionary Forces, and the grade in which he should be accepted at
such time as it shall be agreeable to the French Government to release him.
The Board is authorized to proceed to: Chaumont, Nancy, Jonchery, Sou-
illy, Chalons, Soissons, Plessis-Belleville, Paris (France), and Hoodekoute
(Belgium). Upon completion of this duty the members of the Board will re-
turn to their proper stations.
The travel directed is necessary in the military service.
By Command of Major General Pershing
James G. Harbord, Col. General Staff
Chief of Staff
To do its work, the Board traveled by motor car along the Front from
Verdun to Dunkirk, stopping at every aerodrome where Americans were
to be found. Each candidate was examined and classified, as shown by the
following report made by the Board on completion of its work:
Report to Brigadier-General William Kenly
I. This Board was appointed to examine such American citizens, now
commissioned or enlisted in the French Aviation Service, who desire to ob-
tain their release from that Service for the purpose of entering the Service
of the United States; to make recommendations in reference to their suita-
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THE LAFAYETTE FLYING CORPS
bility and grade in which they should be accepted at such time as it shall be
agreeable to the French Government to release them. The Board was much
impressed by the class of men examined, the fine reports of their work given
by their officers, and their great desire to serve under their own Colors. The
material is valuable as a nucleus of aviators, experienced at the Front,
around whom can be grouped the less experienced pilots recently trained or
undergoing training here. It is capital with which to build and should be
preserved. Many of the pilots are flying in machines which are not modern,
which involves large risks — and the nature of the work itself is necessarily
highly dangerous. The Americans are not receiving any outside assistance,
which they have had hitherto, cannot live on the French pay, and most have
no independent source of income. It is the opinion of the Board and also of
the French officers commanding these Americans, that their position should
be settled as soon as possible; that they should be allowed to remain at the
Front until required by the A.E.F.; and that as soon as they are required
they should immediately undertake the new duties assigned them.
II. In compliance with Special Order No. 113, paragraph 3, Headquarters
A.E.F., October 1, 1917, this Board proceeded in accordance with the itin-
erary directed in the order, and examined certain American citizens, now
commissioned or enlisted in the French Aviation Service, who desired to
obtain their release for the purpose of entering the Service of the United
States. On October 9, 1917, the Board met at the Aviation Headquarters,
Paris, all members of the Board being present. All applicants examined were
considered and classed in one of the following six classes:
1. Capable of commanding a squadron — rank, Major.
2. Capable of commanding a flight of six airplanes — rank, Captain.
3. Capable of command, but not to be commissioned as flight commander
until later, owing to present lack of experience — rank, 1st Lieutenant.
4. Capable of being pilots — rank, 1st Lieutenant.
5. Capable of being an instructor, 1st class — rank, Captain.
6. Capable of being an instructor, 2d class — rank, 1st Lieutenant.
The recommendations are being based upon reports from escadrille com-
manders, group commanders, and from Plessis-Belleville (Instruction); also
on personal impression and past history. The Board was impressed by the
fine class of Americans serving with the French Aviation, their seriousness,
and their desire to serve under their own Colors. . . . There remain a few
others to be examined — not seen because of leave, illness, or other reasons.
These will be reported on in a supplementary report after examination.
Men who desired to transfer to the American Air Service were required
to fill out the following form, stating rank, name, and unit, and request-
ing release from the French service:
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THE LAFAYETTE FLYING CORPS
A Monsieur le Sous- Secretaire d y £tat de V Aeronautique
£tant citoyen americain, et m'etant engage dans TArmee franfaise, comme
[pilote, or observateur) j'ai l'honneur de vous demander de bien vouloir re-
silier mon engagement pour me permettre de passer dans PAviation de
l'Armee americaine.
The Board sent in its recommendations on October 20, 1917, and the
French authorities were informed that the Lafayette men desirous of
transferring would soon be commissioned in the American army, and
that their releases, at the earliest possible date, would be appreciated.
Release is naturally an unusual procedure in the French army, but in
view of the urgent nature of the request, the various Bureaux made a
special effort to hasten the process. It seemed, at last, that the untiring
efforts of Colonel Boiling and Major Gros, supported by General Kenly,
always a stanch friend of the Lafayette Corps, were to meet with success,
in the acquisition, for the United States Air Service, of more than one
hundred pilots, fully trained and experienced on the latest types of Euro-
pean service machines. Unfortunately, however, for the Corps and for
the Air Service at large, General Kenly's policy was not followed by the
officers who superseded him and who seemed to appreciate neither the
value of the material offered nor the critical need of pilots. There seemed
to be a feeling that hundreds of American pilots were ready to come over-
seas, just as there was the illusion that hundreds of American planes
would soon be flying over the lines. In neither the one case nor the other
was this confidence justified: it was many months before American-
trained pilots were ready to go to the Front, and it was not until August,
191 8, that the first American-built planes crossed the lines. Very little
interest was shown in the Lafayette Flying Corps, and although it was
repeatedly brought to the attention of those responsible that serious com-
plications would arise unless the men were commissioned as recommended
by the Board, no heed was paid to the warning. The Board made one
mistake — in recommending for a commission one man, whose record in
the schools, was excellent, and who had not flown over the lines at the
time of his examination. A short time afterward, his French commander
sent to the Air Service an unfavorable report of his conduct in the face of
the enemy — suggesting that his commission, if authorized, be revoked.
On this pretext, the whole report of the Board was questioned, and the
French commanders of squadrons on the Front were asked to send in new
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THE LAFAYETTE FLYING CORPS
reports — a serious and absolutely unnecessary cause of delay, as in all
cases, except the one mentioned above, the new reports were found to
correspond with the recommendations of the Board.
Meanwhile, complying with the expressed desire of the Air Service,
the French army was slowly but steadily releasing the Lafayette pilots
then in the schools and on the Front, making civilians of men who had
come great distances, and put up with weary months of training, in order
A RAINY DAY IN CAMP
to take an active part in the fighting. Some remained in Paris, expecting
each day to learn that they had been commissioned — and finally, after
weeks of waiting, joined the Navy. Others, like Baylies, refused to leave
their squadrons, and had the curious experience of flying and fighting,
for weeks and even months, as civilians, though still in French uniform.
In the end, the transfers were effected, but only after inexcusable loss of
time, lowering of morale, and annoyance to the French Aviation Service,
at a time when every pilot was needed on the Front.
Throughout the affair, Colonel Boiling and Major Gros worked un-
ceasingly for the transfer — at first to persuade the French to release the
men, and later urging the Americans to accept them as rapidly as possi-
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THE LAFAYETTE FLYING CORPS
ble. On December 14, 1917, Major Gros wrote to all members of the
Corps who had applied for transfer:
Knowing how impatiently you must be awaiting the time of your release,
I want to tell you that everything is being done to hasten the delay, which
is entirely due to slowness in the ministerial Bureaux. Your papers are now
going through the Bureau of the Minister of War, and we expect that in a
very few days your official release will be granted. At that time you will be
notified, and asked to come in to take the oath as an officer of the American
Expeditionary Forces. I want you to know that the delay in your transfer
is entirely beyond my control, and that I am doing everything in the world
to hasten these steps.
A few days later, in urging the French to hasten the releases, Major
Gros said:
The Lafayette Escadrille and the members of the Lafayette Flying Corps
are very much in the public eye of America. They have played a great part in
forming public opinion, and at this moment the American newspapers con-
tain pointed articles, asking why we have not looked more carefully after
the interests of these young men, several of whom have died for France.
The following telegram, sent by General Pershing on November 5,
1917, recommended for commissions the first men to be transferred from
the Lafayette Flying Corps. It is of considerable historical interest and
not without an element of unconscious humor, for these senile and de-
fective veterans, for whom it was necessary in so many cases to recom-
mend waivers, became the mainstays of the American Pursuit.
No. 272. S.
Agwar — Washington November 5, 191 7
Par. 14. Recommend following American citizens with Lafayette Esca-
drille of French Army be commissioned in Aviation Reserve as follows: As
Majors John F. HufFer and Victor Raoul Lufbery, 32 years of age, recom-
mend waiver. As Captains, Charles J. Biddle, Phelps Collins, Kenneth P.
Littauer, David McK. Peterson, Robert Soubiran whose age is 31, recom-
mend waiver. Robert L. Rockwell and Kenneth Marr whose age is 32, recom-
mend waiver. As First Lieutenants, Paul F. Baer, Willis B. Haviland,
Charles M. Jones, Henry S. Jones, Granville A. Pollock, Leland L. Rounds,
Joseph C Stehlin, George E. Turnure, Jr., Frank W. Wells, Charles H. Wil-
cox, and Charles C. Johnson. Also recommend William Thaw as Major, waiv-
ing defective vision left eye, 20/80 opthalmoscopic left shows atrophy plus pig-
mentation in focal area, hearing defective 15/20, and recurrent knee injury
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THE LAFAYETTE FLYING CORPS
with limitation of motion, 3 years' experience at the Front with French army;
Walter Lovell, age 33, as Captain, very slight defect in hearing, definitely
color blind, got his brevet one year ago and has been flying seven months at
the Front after completion of course at Pau. In view of his experience waiver
is recommended so that his services may be utilized in instruction. Dudley
L. Hill as Captain, vision right eye limited to finger perception, on account
three years flying with French army it is thought he would make a very use-
ful officer in spite of marked vision defect. Charles H. Dolan, Jr., as First
Lieutenant, vision both eyes corrected to 20-30 myopia, on account of ex-
perience of 14 months flying in French army waiver of defect is recom-
mended.
Pershing
The Lafayette Squadron, as already mentioned, became an American
unit in February, 191 8. The American pilots, scattered through other
French squadrons, were transferred
slowly throughout the winter and
spring. Some remained for several
weeks or months on detached serv-
ice with their former units; others
were sent as instructors to the
American training schools at Tours
or Issoudun, until American squad-
rons were ready for active duty.
The Lafayette pilots, who were the
last to join the Corps, and who
had not yet completed their train-
ing in French Aviation schools,
were taken over as soon as they
were ready for active duty. By
June 1, 191 8, nearly all of those
who had applied for transfer had
received their American commis-
sions.
A brief consideration of statistics
.,, . , COMMANDANT BROCARD
will serve to summarize the accom-
plishments of the Corps. The total enlistment was 267, of whom 43 were
released, before receiving the military brevet, because of illness, inapti-
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THE LAFAYETTE FLYING CORPS
tude, or injuries received in flying accidents. Those who served at the
Front in French uniform numbered 180, and fought with 66 Pursuit,
and 27 Observation and Bombardment Squadrons of the French Avia-
tion Service. After our country
declared war, 93 of these trained
pilots transferred to the U.S. Air
Service, and 26 to the U.S. Naval
Aviation. Five died of illness, and
6 by accident in the aviation
schools; 15 were taken prisoners
(of whom 3 escaped to Switzer-
land), 19 were wounded in combat,
and 51 were killed at the Front.
The members of the Lafayette
Flying Corps shot down, and had
officially confirmed by the military
authorities, 199 enemy machines.
On November 3, 1918, a few days
before the Armistice which pro-
claimed our final victory, the
French Ministry of War showed
jacques-louis dumesnil its appreciation of the work of the
sous-sec,*^ **^%£^* ™*™ « Corps by conferring on the volun-
teers a decoration in the form of a
commemorative Service Ribbon. Each member also received an engraved
certificate, signed by M. Dumesnil, which reads as follows:
mlnistere de la guerre
Sous-Secretariat d'£tat
de l'Aeronautique Militaire et Maritime. R£publique Francaise
Le President du Conseil, Ministere de la Guerre, a decide, sur ma proposi-
tion, d'accorder un souvenir aux quatre officiers directeurs et aux 214 pilotes
du Lafayette Flying Corps, qui, devan^ant l'elan de tout un peuple, sont
venus prendre fraternellement dans les rangs fran^ais une belle part de
perils et de la gloiie.
Ce souvenir consiste en un ruban bleu, seme d'etoiles, borde des couleurs
de France et d'Amerique, orne en relief de la tete de Sioux en argent, qu'ont
glorieusement portee sur nos champs de bataille les avions de la premiere
Escadrille Lafayette.
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THE LAFAYETTE FLYING CORPS
Je suis particulierement heureux de vous faire parvenir cet insigne, qui
demeurera le temoignage reconnaissant de l'Aviation fran^aise fiere de vous
avoir compte parmi ses pilotes, et de la France tout entiere, que vous avez
bien servie.
This brief outline of the history of the Lafayette Flying Corps would
not be complete without an expression of deep gratitude for the never-
failing friendship of the French people. Lafayette men will not forget the
brothers Jacques and Paul de Lesseps, who gave such timely aid in the
early days; the tireless work, on behalf of the Corps, of M. de Sillac, or
his interest in the welfare of the pilots. As President of the Executive
Committee, he was in close touch with the needs of the Corps. There
were loyal friends in every department of public administration, civil
and military: M. Rene Besnard, M. Leon Bourgeois, M. Daniel Vin-
cent, M. Jacques Dumesnil, M. Pierre E. Flandrin, Senator Gaston
Menier, M. Millerand, M. Viviani, were among those in the civil govern-
ment most actively concerned in the organization and the development
of the Escadrille Americaine and the Lafayette Corps. Among the military
were General Hirschauer, Colonel Bouttieaux, Colonel Regnier, Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Girod, Commandant Brocard, Commandant Fequant,
Captain Berteaux. These and countless others, in both public and private
life, revealed their friendship in generous and kindly ways, making the
American volunteers more than ever debtors of France, and grateful
for their privilege of serving her.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
FRIENDS OF THE CORPS
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JAROUSSE de SILLAC
SHORTLY after Norman Prince arrived in France, self-charged with
the difficult task of organizing an escadrille americaine for the French
service, he was introduced, through the courtesy of Mr. Robert Bliss,
to M. Jarousse de Sillac. Viewed in the light of subsequent results, it would
seem that no happier connection could have been made; for it was almost
entirely due to the efforts of M. de Sillac that the consent of the French
Government to the plan for an American squadron was gained. A man of
keen intelligence and broad vision, he saw at once the importance of organ-
izing in the French army a unit of American combatants, which would be-
come a center of pride and of interest to all Frenchmen and to all Americans.
He gave to the project his immediate and effective support. His profound
belief in it, coupled with his reputation for patriotism and prudence, won the
confidence of the War Office, and encouraged the French Military authori-
ties to agree to the formation of the squadron at a time when American
neutrality and the widespread fear in France of spies and secret agents made
the undertaking a difficult one.
Assuming as he did, almost alone, the responsibility for the patriotism
and the good faith of the American volunteers, M. de Sillac made it clear
to them that he was staking not only his honor, but in a large measure the
welfare of his country upon their loyalty to France. One disloyal member, in
the position of an aviator at the Front, with easy access from the air to the
German lines, could work immeasurable harm. Realizing this, and knowing
the infinite ramifications of the German Secret Service, the early reluctance
of the French Government is not to be wondered at. But, as the result proved,
M. de Sillac's confidence was not misplaced. The greatest caution was ex-
ercised by the Executive Committee, in its examination of candidates. From
February 24, 1915, the date of General Hirschauer's acceptance of Ameri-
can aviators, until the close of the war, there is not a single instance of dis-
loyalty to the Allied Cause on the part of any member of the Lafayette
Corps.
It was on February 20, 1915, that the now historic letter of M. de Sillac
to Colonel Bouttieaux, of the French War Office, was written. The early
acceptance of an American squadron was urged, and the names of six
Americans — Norman Prince, Frazier Curtis, William Thaw, Elliot Cowdin,
James J. Bach, and Bert Hall — already enlisted or about to enlist in the
French Aviation Service, were attached in a separate memorandum. These
were the men then available as possible members of the Squadron. Four
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WILLIAM K. VANDERBILT
days later, Colonel Bouttieaux's favorable reply was received; but it was
many months, more than a year in fact, before the Escadrille Americaine was
actually formed. Throughout this long and wearisome interval M. de Sillac
gave generously of his time and his energy in bringing about the wished-for
result. Norman Prince was opposed to the plan for an enlarged corps. That
it was enlarged, its pilots fighting in many French squadrons along the entire
Western Front, in Italy and in Macedonia, was due chiefly to the efforts of
four men: M. de Sillac, Dr. Gros, William K .Vanderbilt, and Frazier Curtis.
M. de Sillac came in personal contact with all of the American volunteers.
In company with Dr. <5ros he made many visits to the aviation schools
where they were preparing for service. No one of them will ever forget these
occasions, enduring memories now. In their eyes M. de Sillac stocd for
France. He represented to them the type of great and noble-minded French-
men for whom and with whom they were to fight. His love for America was
an inspiration to them and made the stronger their own love for France.
Neither can they forget his unwavering belief that ultimately the United
States would be fighting side by side with Frenchmen in the great struggle
for Right.
M. de Sillac has given long and valuable service to his own country and
to the cause of peace throughout the world. At the age of twenty-five he
already held an important post in the diplomatic world, as attache of Em-
bassy. He was soon afterward appointed Secretary of the First Peace Con-
ference at The Hague, and from that time he has taken part in all of the great
peace movements until the Conference of the Society of Nations at Ver-
sailles, where he acted as technical expert and adviser. But to all Americans,
both in present and in future days, his name will be held in most grateful re-
membrance because of his steadfast and loyal friendship for the American
volunteers of the Lafayette Flying Corps.
WILLIAM K. VANDERBILT
IN the early days of the war, when the American Ambulance opened its
doors to hundreds of French soldiers brought into Paris from the battle-
fields of the Marne, Mr. William K. Vanderbilt gave his generous sup-
port, and Mrs. Vanderbilt all her sympathy and tenderness, to the work of
caring for the wounded. Throughout the year 1915 the thoughts and ener-
gies of both Mr. and Mrs. Vanderbilt were centered in this work. The re-
ceiving station at Le Chapelle railway terminus was improved, hospital trains
were equipped, surgical dressings collected and distributed to advanced
postes de secours — their generosity found vent in scores of practical ways
having a common object, the relief of suffering.
Like other Americans abroad who were in close touch with the war, Mr.
Vanderbilt was strongly opposed to the neutrality of the United States. He
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WILLIAM K. VANDERBILT
was one of the warmest admirers of the American volunteers who were
fighting in the Foreign Legion. He took a keen interest in their welfare, re-
gretting that there was nothing which he could do to show them his appre-
ciation of the stand which they had taken. One evening, in December, 191 5,
Dr. Edmund Gros called at his home in Paris and told him of the plan, then
on the point of realization, for organizing a corps of one hundred volunteer
American airmen for the French Service. Dr. Gros spoke earnestly and with
conviction, feeling that the support of Mr. and Mrs. Vanderbilt would mean
the success of the undertaking; and he was not disappointed. Both were
greatly interested. There was no need for pleading, and Dr. Gros left them
with a contribution which placed the Corps upon a firm basis.
From that time until long after the signing of the Armistice, Mr. Vanderbilt
assumed, almost alone, the financial responsibilities of the Lafayette Flying
Corps. His generosity made it possible to distribute monthly allowances to
the volunteers, many of whom were without private means, to give them uni-
forms, to contribute to their mess funds, and in many other ways to make
their life, both in the aviation schools and at the Front, pleasant and com-
fortable. Mr. Vanderbilt gave with no thought of reward or acknowledgment.
Many of those interested in the Lafayette Corps will here learn for the first
time of the important part which he played in its success. But although he
kept always in the background, he took a friendly personal interest in every
pilot. He not only foresaw the importance of the influence which the Corps
would have upon public opinion in America, but he realized its value to the
United States in the event of war. He believed firmly in the plan for an en-
larged organization, and made it clear to the Executive Committee that his
contributions would be limited only by the needs of the Corps. Having this
assurance, the Committee, under the leadership of Dr. Gros, was able to
continue the work of recruiting and enlisting. The obligations which Mr.
Vanderbilt had to meet became increasingly heavy during the last two years
of the war. He met them all gladly. It is not too much to say that through
him at least one hundred pilots were added to the personnel of the Corps.
On October 9, 191 8, the French Government conferred upon Mr. Van-
derbilt the Cross of the Legion of Honor. In presenting the decoration, Mon-
sieur Dumesnil, Minister of Aeronautics, said: "The Government of the
Republic is happy to express its appreciation and gratitude to one of the
citizens of America who, from the very first hour, has been a warm and val-
ued friend to France.
This sentiment for Mr. Vanderbilt is shared by every member of the La-
fayette Corps. They will remember him not only with appreciation and
gratitude, but with feelings of sincere respect and friendship.
[Mr. Vanderbilt's death, on July 22, 1920, while this book, which owes
so much to him, is going through the press, has come as a sad blow to the
entire Corps.]
[68]
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EDMUND GROS
EDMUND GROS
UPON his arrival in Paris, the candidate for enlistment in the La-
fayette Flying Corps reported at 23 avenue du Bois de Boulogne,
where he was ushered into a small and busy waiting-room. While he
waited his turn, his eyes and thoughts were kept busy, for around him,
smoking and talking shop, there was always to be found an interesting group
of flyers: eleves-pilotes from Avord, proudly telling of their first solo flights;
newly breveted men who had just completed their training at Pau; and most
fascinating of all, veterans from the Front, not unconscious of the awesome
halo surrounding them. When at last the door opened, and the neophyte's
name was called, he found himself in the presence of a man whose kindly
manner and cordial hand-clasp put him at his ease at once. It was Dr.
Edmund Gros.
There were hours each day when his office resembled a recruiting bureau
at the Invalides rather than a doctor's waiting-room. Volunteers, newly
arrived from America, from the Ambulance, or the Legion, went there to
sign their enlistment papers for the Air Service. Men already in the service
dropped in to consult with him whenever they were in Paris. Some needed
medical advice or attention, which he gave freely. Others called for letters
or parcels sent in his care. Yet others, about to be returned to civilian life
because of some unintentional breach of camp or field discipline, called to ask
his intervention. No matter what the difficulty, it was always to Dr. Gros
they came for counsel and he was always accessible, ready to help in some
practical way.
Early in 191 5, when Dr. Gros was one of the heads of the American Am-
bulance, Norman Prince was working, despite many discouragements, to
carry out his plan of forming an American squadron. Elliot Cowdin and
Frazier Curtis were giving him loyal and eflFective aid, and it was Curtis who
introduced Dr. Gros to M. de Sillac, the warm friend of the American vol-
unteers. Dr. Gros had for some time, quite independently of the others,
been considering the same idea, having seen the splendid material among the
scores of American lads flocking overseas to drive ambulances — men splen-
didly fitted to play the part of combatants in the war, who loved adventure
and were with France heart and soul. Upon meeting M. de Sillac, and a little
later, Norman Prince, Dr. Gros joined forces with them, and from that time
on took an increasingly active and important part in the organization and
development of what was to become the Lafayette Flying Corps. He had
lived in Paris for many years. French was to him a second mother tongue, and
he understood the French people, their customs, and their politics as few
Americans are fortunate enough to do.
It was Dr. Gros who on July 8, 191 5, planned the now historic luncheon at
the house of Senator Menier, where General Hirschauer agreed to form the
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DR. EDMUND GROS
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EDMUND GROS
Escadrille americaine. It was Dr. Gros who interested Mr. Vanderbilt in
the Corps and obtained from him the funds which have made its existence
possible. He likewise did most of the work of the Executive Committee
handling the funds, attending to the correspondence, publishing pamphlets,
and arranging all the details for making the existence of the Corps known
to Americans at home. He examined every candidate upon his arrival in
Paris, sent him off, as a full-fledged soldat de deuxieme classe, to Buc or
Avord, and kept a fatherly eye upon him throughout his entire period of
service in France.
Dr. Gros has done more for the Lafayette Flying Corps than any other
one man who has been connected with it. Norman Prince conceived the idea
of forming an American squadron to serve with the French. William K.
Vanderbilt, with unfailing generosity, furnished the funds without which the
Corps could not have continued to exist. Dr. Gros, from the time of his
meeting with M. de Sillac, has carried on the burden of the work, giving un-
selfishly his time, his enthusiasm, and his rare ability as an organizer. Few
Lafayette men realize, perhaps, how whole-heartedly he has worked in their
interests. He stood in the relationship of a parent, saw to it that they had
enough money to enable them to live in comfort, got them out of scrapes, re-
joiced with them in their triumphs. His pleasure and pride in the honors
bestowed upon Lafayette men was every whit as keen as that of the recipi-
ents.
When the United States declared war upon Germany, Dr. Gros was com-
missioned Major, and afterward promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in the
United States Air Service. In the midst of his new duties and responsibili-
ties, he did not forget the American volunteers with whom he had been as-
sociated for so long a time. He saw that in the Lafayette Corps there existed
a nucleus of trained and seasoned pilots about which to build the Pursuit
Branch of our own Aviation Service. Two things only were necessary: to
persuade the French to release the men and to convince the American au-
thorities of the advisability of taking them. The business seemed simple, but
military affairs of all nations move with notorious slowness. Although Col-
onel Gros set to work to effect the transfer almost immediately after our
declaration of war, the first telegram recommending Lafayette men for com-
missions was not sent from Washington until November, 1917. In the end,
Colonel Gros was instrumental in transferring ninety-three pilots to the
United States Air Service and twenty-three to the United States Naval Air
Service, all of these men trained and ready for immediate service, many of
them having already had long and valuable experience at the Front. Had
he done nothing else in the war, Colonel Gros could feel that he had done his
full share. He was also chief of the Liaison Section, United States Air Serv-
ice, at the American Headquarters in Paris, where much of the business
between the French and American Aviation passed through his hands.
[71 ]
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MRS. GEORGIA OVINGTON
In recognition of his services to the Allied cause Dr. Gros has been
awarded the American Certificate of Merit, the French Legion of Honor
and Reconnaissance Fran^aise, and the Italian Order of the Knights of
SS. Maurizio e Lazzaro.
Twenty-eight Lafayette men remained in the French service. Colonel Gros
kept in touch with them as long as they were in France, helping them with
all available funds, looking after their interests, corresponding with their
families in case of imprisonment or death. All through the history of the
Lafayette Corps, whenever a casualty was reported, Colonel Gros wrote at
once to the Squadron Commander asking for details. In the case of a
wounded man, he saw that every care was given him, and immediately
reassured his family. If a Lafayette man was shot down back of the enemy
lines, he sent details, including the number of the machine, motor, etc., to
the American Red Cross in Berne, Switzerland, where a committee existed
which made immediate inquiries in Germany. In the files of the Lafayette
Corps are to be found copies of letters written to the parents of the men
who have been killed, every one of them showing, in its fine sympathy of
thought, the patient care which has been given to it, letters written by a busy
man who was never too busy to send a word of comfort to a sorrowing mother
or father.
Now that the war has ended in victory and the members of the Lafayette
Corps have returned to civilian life, the great debt of gratitude which they
owe to Colonel Gros will not be forgotten. At future reunions, when old
memories are revived and healths are drunk, the first toast will be: "To our
wise counselor and loyal friend; to the father of the Lafayette Corps, Dr.
Edmund Gros."
MRS. GEORGIA OVINGTON
THE measure of Mrs. Ovington's services to France and to her own
country cannot be set down in black and white. She found her
place, and gave without stint or thought of self, her time, her energy,
her tact and charm — and, in the end, her only son.
A small part of her accomplishment is expressed in the warm and respect-
ful admiration with which she is regarded by the members of the Corps.
Nothing she could do for her "boys" was too much — she forwarded mail,
held and delivered packages from home, replied to a thousand letters from
anxious relatives, and wrote words of comfort — breathing true feeling and
sympathy — to the families of those who lost their lives. Sometimes, at the
Front, when the war seemed eternal, and one wondered dully what it was
all about and whether all friendly and human things had disappeared for-
ever, the courrier brought a letter from Mrs. Ovington. How she found time
to write, in the midst of her endless and exacting duties, has never been ex-
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MRS. OVINGTON
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COMMANDANT PHILIPPE FEQUANT
plained, but somehow — in the odd moments which most of us devote to
rest — she sent off scores of these kindly and interesting little messages.
They gave news of old comrades, now serving with far-off escadrilles, enabled
us to share with our friends the pleasure of victories and decorations, and told
of those who were in hospital or visiting Paris on leave. They were letters
which might have been written by a mother or elder sister; with a delicate
personal touch that has brought new courage to many a tired and homesick
American, brought a fresh realization of the cause for which one fought.
There is no woman with a better understanding of the realities of war fly-
ing than Mrs. Ovington; but when the time came and her son asked permis-
sion to join the Corps, she did not hesitate. Landram and his mother were
united by the strongest ties of love and comradeship. She was able to realize,
as not every mother can, what her own feelings would have been in his posi-
tion. Her permission was granted with a smile; and when her son gave his
life in combat, she bore the loss with a proud fortitude more touching than
any demonstration of grief, continuing her duties with scarcely a sign of the
suffering which must have tortured her. Men's tongues are tied where their
feelings are concerned, but one wishes that Mrs. Ovington could see the face
of any Lafayette man light up at the mention of her name.
COMMANDANT PHILIPPE FEQUANT
COMMANDANT PHILIPPE FfiQUANT, known to all the Ameri-
can volunteers as the commanding officer of Group e de Combat 13,
began his military career in 1903 when he entered the Saint-Cyr
Military School. He made a choice of the Colonial Infantry, and was sent as
a second lieutenant to Tonkin where he took part in the operations against
the Tonkinese pirates. He became interested in aviation some time before the
experiments of the Wright brothers in France and transferred to the Air
Service in 1913. He was sent on an aviation mission to Africa and after mak-
ing the campaign in Morocco, he returned to France in 191 5 to participate
in the war against Germany. He was at once attached to an escadrille de
bombardement. He took part in many of the most famous raids of the early
part of the war, upon Ludwigshafen, Karlsruhe, Sarrebruck, Treves, and
during one of the expeditions was wounded in the arm by a shell fragment.
For several months he was attached to the bureau of Monsieur Rene
Besnard, Sub-Secretary of State, and at this post was in a position to give
valuable assistance to the cause of the American volunteers at the time when
the Escadrille Lafayette was created under the name of the Escadrille
Americaine. He returned to the Front in April, 1916, and early in May,
during the battle of Verdun, took command of the Escadrille N. 65, the first
squadron to receive the fourragere with the colors of the Medaille Militaire.
It was at Verdun that Commandant Fequant first met the pilots of the
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COMMANDANT F^QUANT
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COMMANDANT PHILIPPE FEQUANT
Escadrille Americaine. During the heavy aerial battles of this period the
Americans fought side by side with the pilots of N. 65, and when in October,
1916, they again met at Cachy on the Somme and Groupe de Combat 13 was
created, both the N.65 and the N. 124 were included in it, under the com-
mand of Commandant Fequant. Groupe 13 took part in all of the important
engagements of 1916-17: on the
Somme, the Aisne, at Verdun and in
Flanders. Commandant Fequant was
a splendid leader, admired and re-
spected by all of his pilots. As com-
manding officer of a groupe de combat,
he had heavy responsibilities. It was
an unusual thing for a Group Com-
mander to take part in actual patrol
work; but Commandant Fequant
often did. When the fighting was
heaviest, his Spad with its anchor in-
signia would be seen far beyond the
enemy lines, making its way calmly
through the eclatementes of enemy
anti-aircraft shells. It was a hearten-
ing, an inspiring sight. One of the
reasons for Commandant Fequant's
success as a leader was that he shared
with his pilots their dangers as well
as their successes; and he did this,
when, as a Group Commander, his
duties on the ground almost forbade
his taking any part in activities over
COMMANDANT FEQUANT AT THE FRONT the HneS.
Early in 191 8, before the German
offensive was imminent, a large aviation group comprising several combat
and bombardment groups, was formed to operate in the region between
Soissons and Rheims. Commandant Fequant was placed in command and
the formation designated as "le Groupe Fequant." This group played a
glorious role during the early days of the German offensive which began on
March 21, gained undoubted supremacy of the air, and then concentrated
all its forces against the enemy land troops. It was owing in large measure
to its relentless attacks against the enemy infantry and artillery, that the
German advance was retarded and that the attempt to separate the French
and British armies failed.
The Fequant Groupe was then sent wherever the need was greatest: to
Beauvais, in rear of the Chemin des Dames in May; to Montdidier in June;
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COMMANDANT PHILIPPE FtiQUANT
to Chateau-Thierry in July, 191 8. Meanwhile other pursuit and bombard-
ment units had been added, and the Groupement became the 2d Aviation
Brigade, composed of the First Pursuit and the First Bombardment Es-
cadres. The Brigade took part in the Mangin offensive of July 18, 191 8,
when the American troops gave so splendid an account of themselves and
which marked the final turning-point of the war. After this battle the Ger-
mans were continually beaten farther and farther back.
Commandant Fequant was then appointed Chief of General Staff of the
Aerial Division, to General Duval, and at the battle of Saint-Mihiel, some of
his old pilots of the Escadrille Lafayette again had the privilege of meeting
him. In 1916, in almost the same region, there had begun that fraternity
between French and American aviators which existed on so much larger
scale at the battle of Saint-Mihiel. In 1916, squadrons were fighting side by
side, America represented only by the Escadrille Lafayette. At Saint-Mihiel,
in 191 8, the association was of Wings and Escadres.
At the time of the signing of the Armistice, Commandant Fequant was
sent as a delegate to the International Commission at Spa, and was later
appointed as a member of the Military Mission of the President of the
French Republic. Throughout his career in French Aviation he never ceased
to be in close touch with the pilots of the Lafayette Flying Corps, and in
particular with those Americans who. were for so long under his direct com-
mand in the Escadrille Lafayette. They will always remember him as a wise
and fearless leader under whose orders it was not only their duty, but their
privilege and pleasure to serve.
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SERVICE RECORD
Georges Thenault, Paris, France
Service in French Aviation:
From the beginning of the war.
£cole d'Avord, January 12 to March 23, 191 5.
At the Front: Escadrille C.i 1, August to Decem-
ber i, 1914.
Escadrille, C.34, March 25, 191 5.
Escadrille C.42 (as Commanding
Officer), July 31, 1915.
Escadrille Lafayette, (as Com-
manding Officer), April 9, 1916,
to January 18, 1918.
Chief Pilot, School of Acrobacy at Pau Janu-
ary 18, 1 91 8 to Armistice.
Final Rank : Captain.
Decorations:
Legion dHonneur.
Croix de Guerre, with four Palms.
CITATIONS
Au G.Q.G.y le 27 aout> 191 4
Citation a VOrdre de YArmee:
Georges Thenault, Lieutenant a l'Esca-
drilleC.u:
A execute plusieurs reconnaissances au
cours desquelles son appareil a ete atteint
par des projectiles.
Au G.Q.G.y le 29 octobre, 191 4
A fait presque journellement des reconnaissances a longue portee et des reglages de tir
d'artillerie bravant le feu de rennemi et se prodiguant sans compter pour remplir les mis-
sions qui lui etaient confiees.
Legion (FHonneur:
Ancien et habile pilote qui depuis le debut de la campagne compte plus de 300 heures de vol
au dessus de Tennemi, entraine par son exemple quotidien les pilotes et ses observateurs de
son escadrille dont il obtient le rendement maximum. Le 21 fevrier, 1916, revenant d'un mis-
sion de bombardement avec 4 avions de son escadrille a attaque et abattu dans nos lignes
un avion ennemi.
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CAPTAIN GEORGES THENAULT
IT was during the spring of 191 5, while both were members of the Esca-
drille C.42, that William Thaw and Georges Thenault laid the founda-
tion for the friendship which was to have such important results for
the Lafayette Squadron. Lieutenant Thenault, as he then was, although a
young man in years, was already a pilot of wide experience and proven abil-
ity at leadership. He was raised to the rank of Captain in May, 191 5, and
placed in command of the C.42 on
July 31 of the same year. He held
this position until April 9, 1916,
when, upon Thaw's recommendation,
he was chosen to take command of
the Escadrille Lafayette, then ready
for service. With the exception of
one month of detached duty, in 1917,
he led the American unit until Jan-
uary, 191 8, when its pilots were being
transferred to the United States Air
Service.
His leadership during the whole of
this period was never an irksome one.
His association with his pilots, who
regarded him as a friend and good
comrade as well as their captain, was
intimate and cordial. He performed
his duties with kindliness and tact,
delegating much of his authority
to his French seconds-in-command,
Lieutenants de Laage de Meux, de
Maison-Rouge,andVerdier-Fauvety,
and to Thaw and Lufbery. After his captain thenault and fram
pilots had served their apprentice-
ship at the Front, it was only occasionally that he took part in the patrols
and combats of the Squadron; but this was due chiefly to the fact that there
was always a nucleus of older men, equipped both by natural endowment
and long training as flight leaders of the first order. He knew and trusted
in their ability, and in time came to exercise only a nominal leadership in
matters of the air.
A sketch, however brief, of Captain Thenault would be incomplete with-
out mention of Fram, his "bon chien" and inseparable companion. The fine
comradeship, the love of the one for the other, was known to pilots
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CAPTAIN GEORGES THENAULT
throughout the entire French Service, and all of them envied Captain
Thenault the loyalty and unwavering faithfulness of his dog. No lover of a
brave and splendid animal could see Fram without desiring him. But he was
firm in his allegiance, and although friendly to others, one always felt that it
was merely out of courtesy to the wishes of his master.
The month of January, 191 8, marked for the Lafayette Squadron, the
transition period from the French to the American Service. It was at this
time that Captain Thenault said good-bye to the pilots of his old command
and was sent to new duties as Chief Pilot at the School of Acrobacy and
Combat at Pau. An association of nearly two years' standing was thus
brought to an end. For the members of the N. 124 it is an association never
to be forgotten. Their memories of Captain Thenault, of his good-fellowship,
of his thoughtful consideration for them upon innumerable occasions,
through days of danger and great strain, must always remain among the
happiest which they have of the Great War.
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SERVICE RECORD
Alfred de Laage de Meux, Lieutenant (French);
Qesse (Deux Sevres), France.
Previous Service: 14th Dragoons, August, 1914,
to March 25, 191 5.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: March 25, 191 5.
Service with Escadrille Lafayette: April 20, 1916,
to May 23,
1917.
Killed in line of duty: May 23, 191 7, at Ham
(Somme).
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with two Palms and two Stars.
CITATIONS
Le I septembre, 191 4
Citation a VOrdre de r Armee:
De Laage de Meux, Alfred, Sous-Lieu-
tenant de Reserve au I4* mc Regiment de Dra-
gons, a execute 31 aout une reconnaissance
fructueuse dans des conditions dimciles; a
rcpris trois fois et pendant plusieurs heures
lc contact d'une importante colonne ennemie
(deux regiments de cavalerie accompagnes
d'infanterie et de mitrailleuses); atteint d'une balle a la cuisse et ayant eu ses vetements
traverses par d'autres balles n'en a pas moins continue sa reconnaissance rapportant lui,
meme le dernier renseignement, a ensuite continue son service a son escadron, malgre sa
blessure.
II C Arm£e, £tat-Major. Au G.Q.G., le 14, aout, 1916
Le General Commandant la II C Armee cite a TOrdre de PArmee:
Le Lieutenant de Laage de Meux, Alfred, Pilotc a TEscadrille N. 124
Pilote d'elite qui est un veritable modele de bravoure. Faisant partie d'un groupe de
chasse depuis le debut de la bataille de Verdun a livre de nombreux combats allant cher-
cher ses adversaires loin dans leurs lignes, et les attaquant quelqu'en soit le nombre. Le 27
juillet a abattu un avion allemand a proximite du front.
Groupe d'Armees de l'Est
£tat-Major. Au G.Q.G., le 28 octobre, 1916
Le Lieutenant de Laage de Meux, de TEscadrille N. 124
Officier pilote tres courageux. A pris part, le 12 octobre, a Toperation de bombardement
d'Oberndorf. A degage plusieurs fois les appareils qu'il etait charge de proteger, en atta-
quant, de tres pres, les appareils ennemies qui s'approchaient.
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ALFRED de LAAGE de MEUX
Le 21 avril, 191 7
De Laage de Meux, Alfred, Lieutenant, Pilote (active) a PEscadrille N. 124, a ete
nomme dans TOrdre de la Legion d'Honneur au grade de Chevalier.
Pilote de chasse de premier ordre. Apres s'etre tres brillamment conduit a Verdun et sur
la Somme, s'est a nouveau distingue de la maniere la plus remarquable au cours des re-
centes operations, executant de nombreux vols a faible altitude pour obliger Tennemi a se
decouvrir et rapportant au commandement de precieux renseignements. Le 8 avril, 191 7,
a livre successivement trois durs combats et abattu deux appareils cnnemis, degageant ainsi
un avion etun ballon francais violemment attaques. Deja quatre fois cite a Tordre de Parmee.
Citation a VOrdre de VArmee: Le 6 juin, 191 7
De Laage de Meux, Alfred, Lieutenant, Pilote de PEscadrille N. 124
Pilote de chasse d'une bravoure et d'une adresse remarquable, se depensant sans compter,
avex un joyeux courage. N'a cesse d'etre pour ses camarades un magnifique exemple d'en-
train et d'esprit de sacrifice. Mortellement blesse dans une chute d'avion le 23 mai, 1917.
ALFRED de LAAGE de MEUX
ALFRED de LAAGE de MEUX, who was long the beloved second-
J-\ in-command of the Escadrille Lafayette, was descended from an old
X Jm» Orleanist family. He was born at Clesse (Deux Sevres) and in peace-
time had been interested in scientific farming. When called for his military
service he responded gladly, and at the outbreak of the war, was a second
lieutenant in the 14th Regiment of Dragoons. He took part in all of the war
of movement until August 31, 1914. While on a reconnoitering expedition
on that day he had his horse killed under him, and was himself wounded
in the leg. His orderly Jean Dressy, who later followed him in Aviation,
and served him until his death, carried him back on his own horse and de
Laage reported in person to his Chief.
After his convalescence in the spring of 191 5, the war of trenches having
immobilized the cavalry, he entered the Aviation Corps, and was sent as an
observer to the Escadrille C. 30. His service here was exceptionally fine in
quality and won him his second citation a V ordre de Varm'ee. The duties of an
observer did not satisfy him, however. He wished to become a pilot, and
accomplished the unusual feat of learning to fly while at the Front, and while
carrying on his work as an observer and machine-gunner. He was one of very
few French pilots who had never a day of training in an aviation school. For
the next few months he piloted a Farman and gained his first victory while
flying this machine. His contempt for danger was such that his fellow pilots
of that squadron predicted an early death for him. But he seemed invulner-
able. On two occasions his machine-gunner was killed. Often his avion was
so badly damaged by bullets as to be past repair. He then transferred to an
escadrille de chasse •, and during the first battle of Verdun distinguished himself
by a series of combats which are memorable even in the long list of brilliant
actions which make up the history of French Aviation.
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ALFRED de LAAGE de MEUX
It was at this time that Captain Thenault, who had just taken command
of the newly formed Escadrille Americaine, first met him, and asked that
he be transferred to this unit. The change was effected. Lieutenant de Laage
took up at once his duties as second-in-command, joining the Squadron at
Luxeuil, on April 20, 191 6, the day of its original muster. He represented all
that is best in French character and had a power of personal magnetism
which made him a natural leader. He gave to his pilots a new conception of
the meaning of patriotism, and it is not the least exaggeration to say that
the love which the Americans had for him bordered upon adoration. He led
them out to their first battles, flew with them individually and in groups of
two or three, instructing them in the tactics of combat, which, in those early
days, had to be learned at the Front. It was at about this time that Kiffin
Rockwell wrote to his brother Paul of a combat he had had while flying
with Lieutenant de Laage:
"Very early one morning, Lieutenant de Laage and I went on patrol to-
gether. Over £tain, I saw a Boche underneath me. I immediately dove on
him, and when I was just about ready to open fire, two other Germans, whom
I had not seen, attacked me, filling my machine full of holes. I thought that
my last hour had surely come. Lieutenant de Laage had already had a com-
bat and his machine gun was jammed. But although it was impossible for
him to fire even one shot, he dove on the two Boches who were trying to
bring me down and drove them off. I am certain that at that moment he
saved my life as he has done many times before."
Upon another occasion, one of the Americans wrote of him: "De Laage
had three combats on the 8th of April and destroyed two planes which were
officially confirmed. The whole Squadron shares in his joy, for he is the most
devoted and self-sacrificing airman one could hope to see. He has had any
number of successful combats which have not been officially accredited him,
because far on the other side of the lines; but one can say, with absolute
confidence, that the enemy machines were destroyed. "
One could quote indefinitely from letters of the early volunteers, in which
reference is made to Lieutenant de Laage. They would give even an outsider,
who knew neither the pilots nor their leader, a lasting impression of an
unusual comradeship, precious beyond any other gift which life has to
offer. Nearly all of the men who knew him best are dead. Those who took
their places at the Front had all too short a time to enjoy the heritage of
friendship.
He had earned the right to die in the midst of combat. He was killed in one
of those stupid accidents which take the bravest and most skillful of airmen
together with the timid and unskillful. Toward the end of the afternoon of
May 23, 191 7, he left the aerodrome at Ham (Somme) for a trial flight in a
new Spad. Gathering terrific speed, as he left the ground, he pulled up in a
steep climbing turn, as he loved sometimes to do. At that instant his motor
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ALFRED de LAAGE de MEUX
failed him, and before he could straighten out in ligne de vol, he lost flying
speed. Had he been fifty meters higher he could have saved himself. As it
was, his Spad crashed to the ground in a half vrille, the fall killing him
instantly.
Many of his ancestors had been killed in battle, and he once said that he
believed he too would be killed in this way. We did not know of this convic-
tion of his, until after his death. Even though we had known of it, we should
not have believed that it could be confirmed. He had come unscathed
THE FUNERAL OF LIEUTENANT de LAAGE de MEUX
through so many combats. Our confidence in his invulnerability was more
than confidence. It was almost a faith in a kindly Providence which would
not and could not let him die.
He was buried in the soldiers' cemetery at Ham. Captain Thenault spoke
fittingly and briefly of his life and of his service to France; and at the end he
said:
"Adieu, mon cher de Laage. Dors en paix. Ta vie aura ete un exemple et
nous n'on aurons pas de plus beau a suivre. Ton souvenir restera imperissable
parmi nous et ton nom demeurera glorieux.
"Et maintenant, Vive la France!"
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SERVICE RECORD
Arnoux de Maison-Rouge, Lieutenant (French).
Previous Service: Cavalry, 1914-15.
Service in French Aviation:
Date 0} enlistment: 1915.
Breveted: November 5, 1915 (Maurice Farman).
At the Front: Escadrille N. 67, September 22, 1916, to May 27, 1917.
Escadrille Lafayette, May 28 to October 6, 1917.
Escadrille Spa. 78, January 14 to May 31, 1918.
Killed in combat: May 31, 191 8.
CITATION
Par Ordre N° 186, du 27 juin, 1917, le Chef d'Escadron, Chef du Service Aeronautique au
G.Q.G., cite a l'Ordre du Groupe de Combat N° 13:
Arnoux de Maison-Rouge, Lieutenant a l'Escadrille N. 67
Tres bon pilote de chasse. A fait preuve pendant la bataille de la Somme et la. retraite
allemande des belles qualites d'ardeur et de bravoure. A eu de nombreux combats au cours
desquels il a force plusieurs appareils ennemis a atterrir desempares dans leurs lignes. A
eu plusieurs fois son appareils atteint dans les parties essentielles.
ARNOUX de MAISON-ROUGE
IN common with Lieutenant de Laage de Meux, whom he succeeded as
the French second-in-command of the Escadrille Lafayette, Lieutenant
de Maison-Rouge was a former cavalry officer. Before the war and dur-
ing the open fighting of the summer and autumn of 1914, the cavalry had
been the corps <T elite of the French Service. When the need for mounted
troops had passed, many cavalrymen became aviators. They were of the
finest blood of France, fearless and splendid fighters, and brought to their
new service high qualities of leadership which placed them, almost immedi-
ately, in positions of responsibility. Lieutenant de Maison-Rouge was sent
to the Lafayette Squadron from the N. 67, joining the Americans at Ham on
May 28, several days after the death of Lieutenant de Laage de Meux. He
had a difficult position to fill, for the pilots of N. 124 were heart-broken at
the loss of Lieutenant de Laage, and could not be reconciled to the thought
of having any one attempt to take his place. But Lieutenant de Maison-
Rouge was a man of great tact and undertook his new duties so quietly and
in so friendly a spirit that resentment soon changed to liking. He was an
excellent pilot and patrol leader, and distinguished himself, particularly at
Verdun, by acts of courage which gained him the whole-hearted respect of
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ARNOUX de MAISON-ROUGE
all the pilots in the Squadron. Although he had the greatest consideration
for the men under his command, and was, if anything, too careful not to tax
them beyond their powers, he was unsparing of himself. He was not a strong
man physically, but he had an unconquerable spirit which kept him at his
THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT CHAUDUN, JULY. 1917
LIEUTENANT de MAISON-ROUGE STANDING ON RIGHT
duty long after his strength was exhausted. In the autumn of 191 7 he became
seriously ill and was compelled, against his will, to rest. On October 6, he left
the Escadrille Lafayette, greatly to the regret of all the pilots, and when he
was again ready for active duty, was assigned to a French squadron, Spad
78. During the heavy fighting of May, 1918, he was shot down in a splendid
battle against heavy odds, and fell to his death far behind the enemy lines.
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SERVICE RECORD
Louis Verdi er-Fauvety, Lieutenant
(French); Meaux, Seine-et-Marae,
France.
Previous Service: 8th Hussards, Octo-
ber 10, 1914, to February 20, 1916.
Service in French Aviation:
Date 0] enlistment: February 26, 1916.
Aviation Schools: February 26 to Nov-
ember 16, 1916, Pau, Juvisy,
G.D.E.
At the Front: Escadrille N. 65, No-
vember 18, 1916, to October 1,
1917.
Escadrille Lafayette, October 6,
1917, to February 18, 1918.
Commanding Officer, Escadrilles
Spad 124, 163, 65, from Febru-
ary 18 to August 21, 1918.
Wounded: October 12, 191 4.
Killed in line of duty: August 21,
1918.
Decorations:
Legion d'Honneur.
Croix de Guerre, with four Palms.
V c Corps d'Armee, Brigade de Cavalerie. 14 novembre, 191 4
Verdier-Fauvety, Louis, Sous-Lieutenant au 8 C Regiment de Hussards
Le 12 octobre, a ete grievement blesse d'un coup de feu a Tepaule dans une reconnaissance
qu'il dirigeait, en se portant tres courageusement en avant, pour reconnaitre les tranchees
ennemies.
29 maiy 1 91 7
Verdier-Fauvety, Louis, Lieutenant (Cavalerie), Pilote a l'Escadrille N. 65
Le 24 avril, 191 7, protegeant une mission photographique bien qu'ayant sa mitrailleuse
enrayee, a reussi a tenir a distance un monoplace adverse.
Le 2 mai, a attaque trois avions de reglage ennemi et contraint Tun d'eux a atterrir.
Le 4 mai a attaque un biplace allemand et l'a oblige a rentrer desempare dans ses lignes.
(Signs) General Maistre
29 aout, 1 91 7
Verdier-Fauvety, Louis, Lieutenant de Reserve de Cavalerie, Pilote a l'Escadrille N. 65
a ete nomme dans l'Ordre de la Legion d'Honneur au grade de Chevalier:
Pilote de chasse remarquable par sa haute conception du devoir, son courage et sa hardiesse.
Le 28 juillet, 1917, a la tete d'une patrouille de combat, a abattu un avion ennemi dans nos
lignes. Deja blesse et deux fois cite a TOrdre de PArmee.
(Signe) General Debeney
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LOUIS VERDIER-FAUVETY
G.A.R. du 25 mat, 1918
Lc General Commandant le G.A.R. cite a l'Ordre du Corps d'Armee:
Verdier-Fauvety, Louis, Lieutenant detache du 8 C Hussards a PEscadrille Spa. 65
Pilote de chasse d'une grande bravoure.
Le 6 mai, 191 8, etant chef de patrouille, a attaque un avion ennemi et cooperee efficace-
ment a sa chute.
21 aout, 191 8
Verdier-Fauvety, Louis, Lieutenant, Pilote a PEscadrille N. 65
Officier d'une grande elevation morale et d'une admirable bravoure, anime par un
amour profond de sa patrie et par le plus sublime esprit de sacrifice.
Admire et aime de tous ceux qui ont lutte a ses cotes, a combattu sans treve pendant
quatre ans et laisse un magnifique exemple des plus hautes qualites d'un soldat: conscience,
modestie, mepris de la mort.
Tombe glorieusement pour la France le 21 aout, 1918, en se portant au secours de son
escadrille soumise a un violent bombardement.
LOUIS VERDIER-FAUVETY
LIEUTENANT VERDIER-FAUVETY, who followed Lieutenants de
Laage de Meux and Maison-Rouge as second-in-command of the
-* Escadrille Lafayette, had long been a member of the same Groupe de
Combat — 13. His war service dates from October 10, 1914, when he was adju-
dant in a cavalry regiment, the 8th Hussards. He was severely wounded in
the left shoulder during the first autumn of the war, while making a recon-
naissance of the enemy trenches, and after spending several months in hos-
pital, was transferred to the Aviation Service and sent to Spad 65, later to
become one of the most famous of French combat squadrons, and the first to
receive the fourragere of the Medaille Militaire. It was at this time that the
American pilots first came to know Lieutenant Verdier; and to know him
was to admire him as an airman and to love him as a friend and comrade.
In August, 1917, Lieutenant Verdier had a most remarkable escape from
death, when, in the midst of a combat, his plane collided with that of one of
his comrades of Spad 65, at a height of 12,000 feet. The stabilizer and the
right half of his elevating planes were torn away so that he fell out of control
the entire distance of more than two miles. His avion crashed in a wood and
he escaped with only a few injuries. On October 6, 191 7, to the great joy of
all the pilots in the Escadrille Lafayette, he was attached to that unit as
second-in-command. It was a pleasure to follow him in combat. He attacked
with superb skill, and never for a moment lost his head, even under the most
trying conditions. Although he was under no obligation to do so, he always
undertook the most dangerous of missions, particularly the work of machine-
gunning trenches and roads from low altitudes. His presence inspired confi-
dence, made men courageous in spite of themselves. He had this quality —
and there is no greater in a leader — in common with Lieutenant de Laage
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LIEUTENANT LOUIS VERDIER-FAUVETY
THE RESULT OF ONE OF HIS COMBAT8
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LOUIS VERDIER-FAUVETY
de Meux, whose place he so splendidly filled. The respect and love which the
men of the Escadrille Lafayette had for him, may best be shown in the follow-
ing extract from a letter written shortly after Lieutenant Verdier arrived
at the Squadron:
"We have a new second-in-command, Lieutenant Verdier-Fauvety, who
has been a pilot with Spad 65, another squadron in our group. Some of the
older men have known him for a long time. They were overjoyed at our luck
in getting him. He is one of the finest Frenchmen I have ever met, and is so
cheery and self-possessed at all times, that one is ashamed to mope in his
presence. We do a little too much of this sometimes. Nerves have a way of
getting jangled, and then, too, we have lost three men quite recently, which
has made us all feel rather gloomy and sad.
"The change since Lieutenant Verdier's arrival has been really remark-
able. It is n't due to anything he says, but simply because he has such a
healthy, wholesome outlook on life. And he is never at all flustered in the air.
He has been with us only a few weeks, but already the older men speak of
him as a second de Laage de Meux. I notice that all of the men are keen to
have his good opinion. He keeps us up to the mark, and he does it without a
word either of praise or blame."
Another Lafayette pilot wrote as follows of a ground-strafing patrol, led
by Lieutenant Verdier:
"The French made an attack on our sector (the Aisne) this week, which
has given our group plenty of exciting work. Four of us were out this after-
noon doing very low patrol near the Aisne-Marne canal and back of the
Chevregny reservoir. I have never cared much about this low work. It means
landing in Germany in case of motor trouble; and then, too, we are always
under machine-gun fire from the ground as well as in constant danger of
attack from enemy planes above. But to-day, strangely enough, I did n't
mind it at all. On the contrary, I actually enjoyed it, which is saying a good
deal for ground-strafing. The patrol was led by Lieutenant Verdier, who is
now our French second-in-command. We have all learned, through much
flying with him, that he is never taken by surprise, and so follow him with
the greatest confidence. To-day, for example, we crossed the lines at 800
meters, and flew for over an hour between 200 and 400 meters, and nearly
all of the time back of the new enemy positions. Lieutenant Verdier would
dive down on some wreck of a village filled with German reserves, all of us
following him in turn, blazing away like mad. Then he would circle around
until we were in formation again, and take on another village or bivouac.
We were chased twice by large patrols of enemy single-seaters. But Lieuten-
ant Verdier saw them each time, long before they could reach us, so that we
never gave them a chance for a decent shot. We dislike this dodging, but
to-day our work was on the ground, hunting for enemy infantry. At first
we were a little worried because of the numbers of enemy planes above us.
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LOUIS VERDIER-FAUVETY
But as a flight leader, Lieutenant Verdier is one in a thousand. He sees
everything and led us to some corking targets in villages and forests almost
under the patrols of enemy machines. We came home without a round of
ammunition left, and, thanks to him, were not once in any real danger from
above."
On February 18, 191 8, the Escadrille Lafayette became the 103d Pursuit
Squadron of the United States Air Service. Lieutenant Verdier was then
made Commanding Officer of the new Spad 124; afterward, of Spad 163,
and finally, on April 4, 191 8, he was placed in command of his old squadron,
Spad 65.
After nearly four years of service at the Front, he was killed, on August
21, 191 8, during a night bombardment of his aerodrome. At his death the
French Air Service lost one of the finest of its pilots. There was scarcely a
French squadron on the entire Front where he was not known and loved;
and nowhere, surely, was he more deeply and sincerely mourned than by his
old pilots and friends of the Escadrille Lafayette.
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SINGLE COMBAT OVER RHEIMS
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
THE CORPS
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SERVICE RECORD
Wainwricht Abbott, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: April 2, 1917.
Aviation Schools: April 3 to September 15, 1917,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: August 7, 1917 (Nieuport).
At the Front: Spad 154, September 18, 1917, to
September 3, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant, U.S. Air Serv-
ice, August 15, 1918. On duty as tester at
Headquarters, Paris, and at Colomby-les-
Belles, September 3, 1918, to Armistice.
Decorations :
Croix de Guerre, with Palm and Star.
CITATIONS
Le 9juin> 191 8
Citation a VOrdre du Groupe de Combat N° 1 1 :
Le Chef d'Escadrons Duseigneur, Com-
mandant le Groupe de Combat N° 11,
cite a TOrdre du Regiment:
Caporal Abbott, Wainwright, Pilote a
L'Escadrille Spad 154
A montre au cours des dernieres operations les plus belles qualities de courage et de devoue-
ment. Le 2 juin, 1918, a assure une protection efficace a deux pilotes de rescadrille charges
d'attaquer un drachen allemand qui a ete incendie.
(Signe) Duseigneur
Citation a VOrdre de VArm'ee: 27 juillet, 1918
Sergent Abbott, Wainwright
Pilote americain, s'est engage au debut de 191 7 comme volontaire dans TArmee Francaise;
est venu en escadrille, ou il montre tous les jours Tesprit de sacrifice et de devouement. Avec
deux autres pilotes a incendie deux drachens.
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WAINWRIGHT ABBOTT
WAINY ABBOTT is one of the few Americans who were breveted
on Nieuport. As he was with the famous Erlich in a squadron
which specialized on saucisses, his life at the Front has not been
devoid of excitement. On the Marne in the summer of 191 8, with Erlich,
Coiffard, and Lahoulle, Abbott made many perilous expeditions after the
German gasbags at a time when the pyromaniacs often had to fight their
way home through swarms of Fokkers. Wainy was so long with the French
that he loved to expliquer les coups — an amiable weakness which consists
in telling just how one did it, with appropriate sweeping gestures of the
hands, signifying dives, zooms, and side-slips. One can easily picture him,
forty years from now — grandchildren gathered around his knee — explain-
ing with vivid gestures how grandfather used to shoot down ballons in the
Great War.
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SERVICE RECORD
John Russell Adams, Jersey City, New Jersey.
Previous Service: Norton-Harjes Ambulance,
1916.
Service in French Aviation :
Date of enlistment: February 20, 1917.
Aviation Schools: February 27 to August 10,
1917, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: June 14, 1917 (Nieuport).
At the Front: Spad 95: August 12 to October 12,
1917.
Spad 81: December 31, 1917 to
March 13, 1918.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant, March 29,
1918.
Ferry-pilot, American Acceptance Park, Orly,
April 4, 191 8, to Armistice.
JOHN RUSSELL ADAMS
NO one who was at Plessis in August, 1917, will ever forget Adams's
plaintive request to the Chef de Piste, as he climbed in and out of
his first Spad, for a machine with fewer disconcerting instruments
and levers. Going to Escadrille N. 95 a short time later, he passed two quiet
months at the Front and then went on leave to America. Coming back in
November, he did not return to his old squadron, but was attached in De-
cember to Spad 81.
Commissioned and ordered to active service in the United States Army in
April, 1918, he gained fame at Orly as the only pilot in the Air Service who
opened a bank account from his mileage returns as a ferry-pilot.
At the signing of the Armistice, Adams was in charge of the school for
ferry-pilots at this same aviation center.
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SERVICE RECORD
Alan N. Ash, Urbana, Illinois.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 15, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 19, 191 7, to February 20,
i9i8,Avord,Crotoy,G.D.E.
Breveted: November 3, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Br. 134: February 23 to May 31,
1918.
Killed in combat: May 31, 1918, north of Oulchy-
le-Chateau (Aisne).
ALAN N. ASH
WRITING to Major Gros a
few days after Ash's death,
the Commanding Officer of
his Squadron said: "It is a heavy loss
to the Squadron — even in the short
time he was with us he had made him-
self loved and admired to an extraor-
dinary degree." Ash liked people, and
there were few who failed to respond
to his genuine good-nature and kind-
liness. The small children in the vil-
lages around Avord used to come
running to greet their friend " Alash"
— pronounced breathlessly, all in one
word. At the cafe in the Gypsy Camp,
frequented by Americans after the
morning's work on the Bleriot field,
Ash might have been the proprietor;
the family was devoted to him; he
smoothed over difficulties with tired
and irritable clients, and acted as in-
termediary between dining-room and kitchen when one's deux ceufs sur le
plat were slow in making their appearance.
[98]
ALAN ASH AT AVORD
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ALAN N. ASH
He learned to fly on the Bleriot, was breveted on Caudron, and was begin-
ning the Nieuport perfection work when he decided to apply for bombing,
instead of chasse. There was no mistaking Ash's serious interest — the Com-
mandant willingly granted his request — and he was soon taking the Sop-
with training, which he completed, with exceptionally good notes, at Le
Crotoy. On February 23, 1918, he reached the Front, assigned to the Esca-
drille Br. 134. The German advance of the following month kept the day-
bombers constantly in the air, flying regardless of weather on missions of the
most desperate character. In May the enemy struck south from theChemin-
des Dames, and on the 31st, the fifth day of the attack, Ash fell in combat,
shot down north of Oulchy-le-Chateau.
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SERVICE RECORD
James J. Bach, Paris, France.
Previous Service: Foreign Legion, Infantry, Au-
gust 24 to December 10, 1914.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: December 10, 1914.
Aviation Schools: March 10 to August 29, 191 5,
Pau, R.G.A.
Breveted: July 4, 1915 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille M.S. (later N.) 38, Au-
gust 29 to September 23, 191 5.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Prisoner in Germany: September 23, 1915, to
Armistice.
j
JAMES J. BACH
IMMIE BACH has the distinc-
tion — a doubtful one in his
opinion — of being the first mem-
ber of the Lafayette Flying Corps,
and also the first American, taken
prisoner in the Great War. He en-
listed in the Foreign Legion, Infantry
Section, with Thaw, Soubiran, Bou-
ligny, Kiffin Rockwell, Dowd, Trink-
ard, and other Americans who answered the call in August, 1914; was
transferred to Aviation and first went to the Front as a pilot in a French
squadron of Morane Saulniers, biplace monoplanes, which were used in those
days, for both chasse and reconnaissance. On September 23, 191 5, he was
sent on special mission with Sergent-Pilote Mangeot, their duty being to
land two French soldiers, dressed in civilian clothes, behind the enemy lines
in the vicinity of Mezieres. The two soldiers carried with them a large
quantity of explosives with which they were to destroy a section of the rail-
way line between Mezieres and Hirson. After gathering information as to
the disposition of enemy troops, they were to try to make their way back
across the lines.
Plans were laid carefully, and the start was made. Landing-ground had
already been chosen by the two soldiers, who knew the country well, but
being soldiers of earth, they had selected a field not at all suitable from the
airmen's point of view. It was rough and covered with bushes and small
trees. However, a landing was made without accident, and a moment later,
the soldiers with their load of explosives were on their way toward the
railroad.
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JAMES J. BACH
Bach put on full gas and was off immediately, making toward the French
lines. Looking back, he saw that Sergent Mangeot's machine had turned over
on the ground. He landed again, picked up the French pilot, who was unhurt,
FRAZIER CURTIS. JAMES BACH. BERT HALL. AND NORMAN PRINCE AT PAU
MARCH. 1915
but in taking off the second time, one wing of his Morane struck the limb of
a tree. The machine crashed, of course, and although neither was hurt, they
were face to face with a very serious situation. If the four men should be cap-
tured, and it could be proved that the two soldiers had been landed by the
airmen, death was certain for all of them. Bach and his companion remained
hidden in the woods until they were sure that the soldiers were far from the
neighborhood. Then they started homeward.
They were captured a few hours later and taken to Laon. Suspicion against
them was strong, and they were twice court-martialed, on October 20 and
October 30, 191 5. The first time there was no verdict, and the second, owing
largely to the able defense of a German lawyer, they were found not guilty.
Bach spent more than three years as a prisoner in various German camps.
By right of seniority he becomes the Herr Direktor of the Amerikanischer-
Kriegsgefangenen Club. His eligibility for this office is no fault of his own,
however. He made several attempts to escape, but was recaptured each
time. He came back, after the Armistice was signed, the same quiet, genial
fellow his old comrades had known, in the Foreign Legion, and in Aviation,
long before the Escadrille Lafayette was organized.
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SERVICE RECORD
Paul Frank Baer, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: February 20, 19 17.
Aviation Schools: February 27 to August 12,
19 1 7, Avord, G.D.E.
Breveted: June 15, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Spad 80, August 14, 1917, to Janu-
ary 10, 1918.
Escadrille Lafayette: January 10
to February 18, 191 8.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant, November 5,
1917.
At the Front: 103d Pursuit Squadron: February
18 to May 22, 191 8.
Shot down and wounded in combat:
May 22, 1918, near Armentieres.
Prisoner in Germany: Until the Armistice.
Decorations:
Distinguished Service Cross, with Bronze Oak
Leaf.
Legion d*Honneur.
Croix de Guerre, with seven Palms.
CITATIONS
G.H.Q., A.E.F. April 10, 1918
The Distinguished Service Cross is awarded to
Paul Frank Baer, First Lieutenant, A.S.U.S.A., pilot, 103d Aero Squadron
On March 11, 1918, alone attacked a group of seven enemy pursuit machines, destroying
one which crashed to the ground near the French lines northeast of Rheims. On March 15,
191 8, he attacked two enemy two-seaters, one of which fell in flames, striking the ground in
approximately the same region.
By command of General Pershing
IV e Armee, £tat-Major. Le 8 avril, 1918
Le General Commandant la 4 C Armee cite a POrdre de PArmee les militaires dont les noms
suivent: . . .
Lieutenant Baer, Paul F., de PEscadrille Americaine, "Lafayette 103"
Pilote americain, engage dans PArmee Francaise, se revele de suite comme un pilote de
premier ordre, livrant de nombreux combats au cours desquels il met toujours Pennemi en
fuite. A abattu un avion ennemi.
Le General Commandant la 4 e Armee
Gouraud
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PAUL F. BAER
IV e ArmSe, £tat-Major. Le h avril, 191 8
Le General Commandant la 4 e Armee cite a POrdre de P Armee les militaires dont les noms
suivent: . . .
Lieutenant Baer, Paul, de PEscadrille Lafayette (Groupe de Combat 21)
Pilote d'une merveilleuse ardeur, livrant combat sur combat a chaque sortie. Le 6 avril
a livre trois combats a un ennemi superieur en nombre, au cours desquels un ennemi est
abattu en flammes et deux autres tombent desempares dans leurs lignes.
Le General Commandant la IV Armee
Gouraud
IV C Armee, £tat-Major. Le n avril, 1918
Le General Commandant la IV C Armee cite a POrdre de P Armee les militaires dont les noms
suivent: . . .
Lieutenant Baer, Paul, de PEscadrille Lafayette (Groupe de Combat 21)
Pilote d'une merveilleuse audace, n'hesite jamais a engager le combat avec un ennemi
superieur en nombre. A abattu un avion ennemi (seconde victoire en quatre jours).
Le General Commandant la IV* Armee
Gouraud
VI C Armee, £tat-Major. Le 29 avril, 1918
Le General Commandant la Vl c Armee cite a I'Ordre de PArmee:
Baer, Paul Frank, Lieutenant Pilote a PEscadrille Americaine 103 (Lafayette)
Pilote de tout premier ordre, se signalant sans cesse par son audace. Le 12 et le 23 avril
a reussi a abattre deux avions ennemis.
(Signe) Le General Commandant la Sixieme Armee
Q.G., le 11 mat, 1918
Le General de Mitry, Commandant le Detachement d' Armee du Nord, cite a POrdre de
PArmee:
Le Lieutenant Baer, Paul Frank, Pilote a PEscadrille Lafayette
Pilote remarquable d'audace, a execute dans la meme journee six vols de chasse, au course
desquels il a abattu deux avions ennemies.
(Signe) de Mitry
Detachement d'Arm£e du Nord, £tat-Major. Q-G., le 4Juin, 1918
Le General de Mitry, Commandant le Detachement d' Armee du Nord, cite a POrdre de
V Armee:
Le Lieutenant Baer, Paul Frank, de PEscadrille Lafayette
A abattu son huitieme avion ennemi; le lendemain n'a pas hesite a attaquerdans les lignes
ennemies une patrouille superieure en nombre a laquelle il a livre un combat acharne, au
cours duquel il a disparu.
(Signe) de Mitry
Grand Quartier General des Arm£es
Fran^aises de l'Est, £tat-Major.
Bureau du Personnel. Ordre No. 17,522 "Z>"
Apres approbation du General Commandant en Chef les Forces Expeditionnaires Ameri-
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PAUL F. BAER
caines en France, Le Marechal Commandant en Chef les Armees Franchises de l'Est,
cite a TOrdre de TAnnee:
Lieutenant Baer, Paul
Pilote courageux et adroit. A ete un tres bel exemple pour ses camarades dans TEscadrille
Lafayette. A abattu 9 avions ennemis.
Au Grand Quartier G£neral. Le 17 mat, 1919
Le Marechal Commandant en Chef les Armees de PEst.
Par decret du President de la Republique en date du 9 avril, 1919, le Lieutenant Baer
a ete promu Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur.
Cet promotion a ete fait avec le motif de ce citation.
(Sign*) Petain
PAUL F. BAER
WHEN Baer was taken prisoner in the spring of 191 8, our Aviation
lost a man who would surely have run up a long string of victories.
He has all the qualities that make an Ace: the coolness, the skill,
the endurance, and the courage that never counts cost. Always on the offen-
sive, Baer cruised far within the enemy lines in search of the enemy, and
never hesitated to attack against heavy odds or under unfavorable circum-
stances. During the few months he was at the Front, he was officially cred-
ited with eight victories, winning for himself the reputation of a fighting-
pilot of the very first order. His keenness and endurance are shown by the
fact that in one day he has been known to make six patrols over the lines —
a truly remarkable feat, as every aviator knows. Baer's resistance to fatigue
is undoubtedly due to his simple habits. He took excellent care of his health
and kept himself in all-round training like an athlete. He is, however, a
thoroughly companionable fellow, always ready for a good time, frank and
unaffected in manner, and much loved by his comrades.
In May, 191 8, while a member of the 103d Pursuit Squadron (formerly the
Escadrille Lafayette), Baer met with a mishap which put him out of the
war. At about nine o'clock on the 22d, Lieutenants Giroux, Turnure, Wilcox,
and Dugan, led by Baer, set out on patrol. Baer took them across the lines
about sixteen kilometers southwest of Armentieres. They were flying at
5000 meters, when below them and some distance in the German lines, they
saw five German single-seaters. As the Americans dove to attack, they saw
three other German machines above them. Baer, with Giroux, close be-
hind him, plunged headlong on one of the lower machines; next moment,
the other four enemies dove on the two attackers. The three Germans of the
big patrol piqued at once into the melee, and a fast and bitter combat ensued,
during which Giroux was brought down and killed, and Baer had his con-
trols cut by a bullet, after bringing down a German in flames. The other
three Americans, heavily outnumbered and caught in a tight place, disen-
gaged themselves with difficulty and reported on landing at the Squadron
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PAUL F. BAER
that, when last seen, Baer was descending normally and was probably a
prisoner.
The fact is that with his controls cut and two Albatross on his tail, shoot-
ing at him all the way down, Baer fell
from 4000 meters and had a frightful
crash, from which he escaped only by
a miracle.
Though he seldom speaks of it,
Baer's experience as a prisoner in
Germany was of exceptional inter-
est. He was fairly well treated at the
headquarters of the squadron which
brought him down, but while being
taken to the rear to receive treatment
for his knee (which had been broken
in the crash), he was noticed by a Ger-
man infantry officer of very forbid-
ding aspect. Frowning heavily, he ap-
proached the wounded American and,
pointing to the ribbon of his Croix
de Guerre, asked the meaning of the
palms attached to it. Baer shook his
head, not understanding at first, but
another German standing near by
said, "Each one of those Palms rep-
resents a Deutscher flieger shot down."
At this announcement the German, PAUL F BAER
forgetting all tenets of military cour-
tesy, reached over and pulled the decoration from Baer's breast with such
violence that the pin ripped a hole in his tunic.
On another occasion, still badly crippled by his wounded knee, Baer
showed his pluck by attempting to escape, far up in northern Germany. After
several days of exposure and fatigue, he was captured by a body of the low-
est type of German soldiers, and taken, in company with two escaped British
officers, into a cellar where the soldiers were carousing with a number of
women. In this place Baer, crippled and half dead with fatigue, was singled
out for the heavy gibes and insults of his captors, and at last, unable to re-
sist, was so severely beaten and mauled that he considers himself lucky to
have escaped with his life.
Now that the war is over and he is safely in America once more, Baer
should feel well satisfied with the part he has played in the struggle, for few
members of the Lafayette Flying Corps have had more thrills or have made
a finer record at the Front.
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SERVICE RECORD
Benjamin H. Baird, New York City.
Service in French Aviation:
Date oj enlistment: June 25, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 29, 191 7, to March 1, 191 8, Avoid, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 26, 19 17 (Caudron).
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Naval Aviation:
Commissioned Ensign.
On duty in Italy, April to June, 1918.
On duty at Brest (Finisterre), August, 1918.
BENJAMIN H. BAIRD
BAIRD was breveted on Caudron at Avord, but instead of taking the
Nieuport training, he decided to specialize in bombing work. After
a course on Sopwith, he was sent — like Kyle, Corey, and Bluthen-
thai — to the Schmidt division. All the men who trained at Avord will re-
member the Schmidts: the huge and beautifully finished machines which
were to be seen daily skimming low over the trees of the Bleriot field —
rapidly and with the sound of a six-cylinder automobile. They were consid-
ered one of the most difficult of all planes to land. Baird used to say that on
a windy day it was next to impossible to bring down his Schmidt without
touching one or the other of the long lower wings. He found the Breguet easy
after piloting these delicate birds, and was at the G.D.E., awaiting assign-
ment to the Front, when he received notice that his application for transfer
to the Navy had gone through, and that he had been commissioned Ensign.
As a naval aviator, Baird saw service both in France and in Italy; it is un-
fortunate that no detailed information with regard to his later career is
available.
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SERVICE RECORD
H. Clyde Balsley, San Antonio, Texas.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 191 5.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: September 16, 1915.
Aviation Schools: October 1, 191 5, to February 1,
1 9 16, Pau, Amberieu.
Breveted: January 2, 1916 (Bleriot).
Attached to Air Guard of Paris as pilot with
Escadrille V. 97, February 15 to April 1, 1916.
At Reserve General Aeronautique: April 1 to May
26, 1916.
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette: May 29 to
June 18, 1916.
Seriously wounded in combat: June 18, 19 16, in-
capacitated for further service at the Front.
Reforme from French Aviation.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation
Commissioned Captain.
Attached to Pursuit Division, U.S.A.S., at
Washington, D.C.
Decorations:
Medaille Militaire.
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATION
Le Ministre de la Guerre. Paris, le 23 juillet, 1916
Vu le Decret du 13 aout, 191 4. Sont inscrits aux tableaux speciaux de la Medaille Militaire
les militaires dont les noms suivent: . . . Pour prendre rang du 19 juin, 1916.
Balsley (H.C.) Caporal Pilote a rEscadrille N. 124, engage pour la duree de la guerre:
Jeunepiloteplein d'allantetde courage. Le 18 juin, 1916, a attaque plusieurs avions de chasse
ennemis dans leurs lignes. Blesse tres grievement au cours du combat, a reussi a ramener son
appareil dans nos lignes.
La nomination ci-dessus comporte ^attribution de la Croix de Guerre avec Palme.
(Signe) Roques
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H. CLYDE BALSLEY
THERE are not many pilots in the Lafayette Corps who know Clyde
Balsley personally, but there are very few of them who have not
heard of him, and of the combat which came so near to costing him
his life. He is one of the old-timers, one of the Pilgrim Fathers of the Esca-
drille Lafayette. Previous to his enlistment in the Aviation Section of the
Foreign Legion in September, 191 5, he had been a member of the American
Ambulance Service. After receiving his brevet militaire in French Aviation,
he and Chouteau Johnson spent six weeks at Le Bourget as members of the
Air Guard of Paris. On May 29, 191 6, they were both sent to N. 124, and
one month later, June 18, to be exact, Balsley was shot down in one of the
Squadron's earliest battles. As a matter of fact it was his own first combat,
for up to that time he had been flying back of the French lines, learning the
country and getting "air sight." Four Lafayette pilots, Captain Thenault,
Norman Prince, Kiffin Rockwell, and Balsley, were sent out on a vol de pro-
tection with several artillery reglage machines. They were well over on the
German side of the lines, at 3500 meters, when they met a large enemy
patrol, and the battle became general at once. Balsley dived on a two-seater
Aviatik whose pilot did n't see him. He got within fifty meters of it before
opening fire, and then his Lewis gun popped just once! A jammed Lewis gun,
mounted (as they were in those days) on the top plane of a 15-meter Nieu-
port, was a difficult thing to arm in the air. In order to do it it was first neces-
sary for the pilot to get out of the scrap. Clyde was following this part of the
procedure, with the Aviatik chasing him, firing briskly, when he was at-
tacked from above by a second enemy plane. He was struck in the hip by an
explosive bullet which made a terrific wound. Luckily for him, he was two
thousand meters from the ground, for he could not use his right leg. (He
learned afterwards that the sciatic nerve had been injured.) He tried to work
the rudder bar by grasping his leg in his hands, but this was useless. Finally
he managed to come out in ligne de vol, and not a minute too soon, for he was
very close to the ground. He landed in a field of wild wheat, back of the
French second lines, his Nieuport turning over and throwing him out. Drag-
ging himself along for a few yards, he lay there, not knowing whether he was
in French or German territory. Artillery began searching for his machine,
which did nothing to relieve the strain of a terrible situation; for he was
severely wounded, as badly hurt, almost, as a man can be and live. Then he
was found by soldiers — in French uniform!
After a long period in a French evacuation hospital at Vadelaincourt, near
Verdun, his life was despaired of, and he was sent to the American Ambu-
lance Hospital at Neuilly. Here he was operated upon five or six times, dur-
ing the course of the year, for his body was filled with tiny fragments of
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H. CLYDE BALSLEY
explosive bullet. He grew weaker and weaker, and would probably have died
had it not been for the tireless, patient, splendid care of Miss Wolf, his
American nurse. She pulled him through, and finally, in the autumn of 1917,
nearly a year and a half after his combat, he was well enough to return to
America.
Balsley will always be remembered by Americans, who were in France in
the early days of the war, as the airman blesse; for he was the only one who
had been severely wounded at that time. Strange though it may seem, by the
mere fact of being wounded, he rendered a great service to his country, one
far-reaching in its ultimate effect. For he helped to make clear and unmis-
takable to the French people, America's friendship and her desire to help.
After recovering from his wound, although permanently crippled, he
offered his services to the United States, was commissioned Captain, and
did excellent work in the Pursuit Division, United States Air Service, at
Washington.
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SERVICE RECORD
Leif Norman Barclay, New York City.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1915-16.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 22, 1916.
Aviation Schools: June 20, 1916, to April 9, 1917,
Buc, Avord, Cazeaux, Pau,
G.D.E.
Breveted: October 6, 19 16 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrille N. 82: April 12 to June
1, 1917.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Killed in line of duty: June 1, 1917, at Chaux,
near Belfort.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATION
VII e Arm£e. Le 24 juin, 191 7
Le General Boissoudy, Commandant la
VII C Armee, cite a l'Ordre de FArmee,
le Sergent Barclay, Leif, du i a fitran-
ger, M ,c 38920, Pilote a l'Escadrille N. 82:
Sujet americain qui a servi en France de-
puis le debut de la guerre; d'abord a l'Am-
bulance Americaine et ensuite engage volontaire a la Legion Etrangere, comme pilote avia-
teur. Pilote depuis le 12 avril, 191 7, a fait Tadmiration de tous par son habilete, son entrain,
son mepris absolu du danger. A livre de nombreux combats aeriens. Tue le i er juin, 1917,
a la suite d'un accident au depart pour une patrouille.
(Signe) de Boissoudy
LEIF NORMAN BARCLAY
THE eleves-pilotes who were at Buc when the school there was dis-
continued, and who were sent to Pau, will always remember and
be grateful for Barclay's assistance upon their arrival at the latter
camp. He had been there for several weeks, and was the only one of all the
earlier Americans who took an interest in the new arrivals. He secured bed-
ding, quarters, and food for them, and helped them through the tedious
routine which is inevitable in the French army when a soldier changes his
post. This is a trifling incident, and is mentioned only because it is typical of
Barclay's kindly, unselfish nature. He was always ready to help, no matter
what the inconvenience to himself.
He was killed in an accident six weeks after his arrival at the Front. While
doing acrobacy over the field at Chaux, the muzzle cup of his machine gun
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LEIF NORMAN BARCLAY
came loose, striking the propeller and shattering it. Fragments were thrown
against the wing bracings, tearing them loose and allowing the wings to col-
lapse. The following address was de-
livered at his grave by his French
Squadron Commander. It is a brief
and eloquent resume of Barclay's serv-
ice for France, and of the qualities
which endeared him to his comrades :
"Le Sergent Barclay a qui nous
avons Timmense peine de rendre au-
jourd'hui les derniers honneurs, etait
Tun de ces heroiques Americains
venus en si grand nombre se battre
pour nous des les premiers jours de
la guerre.
"Accouru en France avec les pre-
miers d'entre eux, il a pendant pres
de deux ans prodigue ses soins a nos
blesses. Remarque plusieurs fois par
ses chefs pour sa superbe attitude
sous de violents bombardements, il a
trouve cependant que ce n'etait pas
assez servir notre pays.
"Engage volontaire a la Legion
Etrangere et verse dans l'Aviation, il
devint rapidementun excellent pilote. Barclay at belfort. may. , 9 i 7
"Des son arrivee en Escadrille, il a fait notre admiration a tous par son
entrain, son adresse, son mepris absolu du danger, par la haute noblesse de
ses sentiments.
"Tou jours volontaire pour les missions les plus perilleuses, impatient de
se signaler par quelque action d'eclat, navre lorsqu'un jour se passait sans
quMl ait pu combattre, il fallait constamment moderer son ardeur. II est
tombe glorieusement avant d'avoir pu donner tout ce que promettait son
courage, victime d'une manoeuvre trop hardie demandant a son appareil un
trop violent effort.
"Sergent Barclay, infiniment reconnaissants envers votre Patrie d'avoir
fait pour notre cause le sacrifice d'hommes tels que vous, plus surs encore si
possible du prochain triomphe puisque tous vos freres combattent mainte-
nant a nos cotes, nous nous inclinons tous avec emotion et respect devant
votre tombe ouverte et nous garderons pieusement votre souvenir."
(Discours prononce par M. le Capitaine fichard, Commandant l'Esca-
drille N. 82, aux obseques du Sergent-Pilote Barclay, Leif, mort glorieuse-
ment pour la France, le i er juin, 1917.)
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SERVICE RECORD
Charles Chester Bassett, Jr., New York City.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 17, 19 17.
Aviation Schools: June 30, 1917, to February 10,
191 8, Avord, Pau, Cazeaux,
G.D.E.
Final Rank : Caporal.
Service in U.S. Naval Aviation:
Commissioned Ensign.
Promoted Lieutenant (Junior Grade).
At the Front: U.S. Naval Air Station, Dunkirk,
February 14 to September 3,
1918.
Attached to 218th Squadron, Brit-
ish Royal Air Force.
T!
CHARLES CHESTER
BASSETT, Jr.
^HE name of Bassett recalls
the dining-room of the Ho-
tel Borderieux at Avord —
eight o'clock of a cool September
evening; a table in the pleasant
warmth of the fireplace, tended by
the deft and ornamental Marcelle; Bassett, Neal Wainwright, Don Eldredge,
and Jim McMillen, lingering over an excellent dinner while the day's fly-
ing was discussed. Sometimes one of the Bleriot moniteurs — Vireau, de
la Tourasse, or de Curnieu — sat down for a liqueur; sometimes little
Mademoiselle Bougeassie, whose brother lay in the hospital, injured in a
severe Nieuport crash, came in to entertain the Americans with her pretty
attempts to speak English. They were pleasant evenings — not soon to be
forgotten.
While at the G.D.E., awaiting his turn to go to the Front, Bassett was
released from the French army, and commissioned an Ensign in the U.S.
N.A.S. The land Aviation lost an exceptional single-seater pilot when he
transferred, for at Pau and Cazeaux he had shown a real mastery of the Nieu-
port. With the Navy he had the good fortune to see plenty of active service:
flying hydros at the United States Naval Air Station at Dunkirk, and doing
day-bombing work, attached to the 218th Squadron of the Royal Air Force.
His promotion to the rank of Lieutenant (Junior Grade) is evidence of the
quality of his service.
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SERVICE RECORD
Henry A. Batch e lor, 3D, Saginaw, Michigan.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: August 1, 1917.
Aviation Schools: August 2, to December 24,
19 1 7, Avord, Tours, Pau,
G.D.E.
Breveted: October 14, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 103, December 26,
1917, to March 1, 1918.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Naval Aviation:
Commissioned Ensign.
Promoted to Lieutenant (Junior Grade).
Assistant Chief Pilot and later Chief Pilot, U.S.
Naval Air Station, Moutchic-Lacanau (Gi-
ronde), March 10, 191 8, to Armistice.
HENRY A. BATCHELOR
BATCHELOR was sent to a French squadron, when the last of the
frequently altered plans had been made for the transfer of Lafayette
men to the United States Air Service. It was an unfortunate time, and,
to make matters worse, he had an accident at his aerodrome, which robbed
him of six weeks of service at the Front with the French. He was eager
to be getting experience as a combat pilot, but after a month in hospital,
and while waiting to be returned to his Squadron, he received his com-
mission in the United States Naval Air Service with orders to report to the
Aviation Instruction Center at Moutchic-Lacanau. As chief pilot at this
school, he did excellent work; but he was bitterly disappointed, and fretted
constantly under the compulsion of remaining in the rear.
Batchelor would have made a fine record at the Front, but like many an-
other American pilot he was deprived of his opportunity because of the
great need of our Air Force for capable instructors.
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SERVICE RECORD
James Henry Baugham, Washington, North
Carolina.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 10, 1917.
Aviation Schools: July 19 to December 24, 19 17,
Avord, Juvisy, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 17, 19 17 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille, N. 157, December 26,
1917, to June 27, 1918.
Escadrille Spad 98, June 27 to
July 2, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Wounded in combat: July 1, 1918, over the for-
est of Villers-Cotterets.
Died in hospital: July 2, 19 18.
Decorations:
MedaUle Militaire.
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATIONS
jytne Armee, £tat-Major. 5 juin, 1918
Citation a VOrdre de V Armee:
Sergent Baugham, James Henry, du i*
Regiment fitranger, detache a rEscadrille
Spa. 157 (sujet americain):
Pilote adroit et audacieux. Le . . . a atta-
que un drachen ennemi oblige Tobservateur a
sauter en parachute. A recommence la meme mission le. . . . Le meme jour, a attaque un
avion ennemi, Pa oblige a atterrir dans les lignes apres avoir mis le mitrailleur hors de combat.
19 juin, 191 8
La Medaille Militaire a ete conferee:
Au Sergent Baugham, James Henry (Active), du 2 e Groupe d'Aviation, Pilote a
rEscadrille 157
Jeune pilote d'un rare courage. Depuis son arrivee a l'escadrille a abattu deux avions en-
nemis. Au cours d'un violent combat contre un appareil allemand, a ete contraint d'atterrir
entre les lignes par suite d'avaries a son moteur; a reussi a regagner les lignes francaises sous
une grele de balles en ramenant une partie de Tequipement de son appareil. Une citation.
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JAMES HENRY BAUGHAM
BAUGHAM had taken a civilian pilot's license at Newport News before
his departure for France, and had piloted both flying boats and land
machines with great success. His intention at that time was to enter
the American army as a flying officer, but so impatient was he for action
that he decided to start at once overseas to join the Lafayette Flying Corps.
He was a fine type of Southerner, keen, alert, and full of courage. He came
of old American stock, the kind that loves danger for its own sake and fights
to the last ditch. Breveted on Caudron at Juvisy, his performances on the
staid G. 3 were the marvel of both students and instructors, and on more than
one occasion were almost the means of obtaining several jours <T arret. He did
vertical spirals, renversements, and loops in a machine which was never de-
signed for acrobacy, and when he left the school was considered among the
most skillful and daring pilots who had trained there.
From the G.D.E. he was sent to the Escadrille Spad 157. During the few
months he was on the Front he fulfilled all the prophecies that had been made
by his instructors.
Before his death he undoubtedly shot down four Germans, although two
of them were too far within the enemy lines to be confirmed, and was decor-
ated with the Croix de Guerre and Medaille Militaire, this last for a remark-
able adventure, during which he landed between the lines and escaped to
friendly territory under a storm of bullets.
Finally, on July 1, 191 8, exactly one year after his arrival in France, he
made his last flight. It was at 4.30 in the afternoon. Flying over the Forest
of Villers-Cotterets, he attacked, single-handed, three Germans, and during
a very fierce point-blank combat received two grievous wounds. Faint from
loss of blood and pain, he managed to reach the French lines, but he was
beyond human aid, and died on July 2.
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SERVICE RECORD
Frank L. Baylies, New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, France
and at Salonica, February
1916, to May, 1917.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 21, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: May 26 to November 15, 1917,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 20, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 73, November 17
to December 18, 1917.
scadrille Spad 3, December 18,
1917, to June 17, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Killed in combat: June 17, 1918, near Rellot
(Somme).
Decorations:
Medaille Militaire.
Croix de Guerre, with Six Palms and One Star.
CITATIONS
L 'Armee Francaise d'Orient
57* Division, Service de Sante.
Le General Jacquemot, Commandant la 57®
Division d'Infanterie, cite a POrdre de la
Division, les Militaires dont les noms
suivent: . . .
Baylies, Frank, volontaire americain, Section Sanitaire Automobile Americaine No. 3
Deux fois volontaire sur le front de France, puis pour PArmee d'Orient, ont mis au service
des blesses un devouement et une intrepidite parfaite, journellement eprouvees du 19 decem-
bre, 1916, au 26 mars, 191 7, dans les evacuations du Secteur de Monastir, faits au mepris
des bombardements de la ville, de la route, et du Cantonnement meme de la Section.
II e Armee, £tat-Major. Le 9 mars, 191 8
Le General Commandant la Il c Armee cite a l'Ordre de 1'Armee:
Le Caporal Baylies, Frank, M le 12 186, du i cr Regiment fitranger, Pilote a rEscadrille Spad 3
Citoyen americain engage dans 1'Armee Francaise avant la declaration de guerre des
£tats-Unis. Passe sur sa demande dans l'aviation de chasse; fait preuve du plus bel entrain.
Le 18 fevrier, 191 8, a abattu, seul, un avion ennemi qui s'est ecrase dans ses lignes.
(Signe) Hirschauer
Le 6 tnai, 191 8
Le General Commandant la i CT Armee cite a l'Ordre de V Armee:
Bayues, Frank, M le 12186, Sergent i cr Regiment fitranger
Excellent pilote de chasse, n'a pas voulu entrer dans Taviation americaine comme officier
pour ne pas quitter son Escadrille Francaise. Y livre journellement des combats. Vient
d'abattre seul son 2 me avion.
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FRANK L. BAYLIES
Citation a POrdre de P Armee: 16 tnai, 191 8
Baylies (Frank), M le 12186, Sergent du l CT Regiment fitranger, Pilote a rEscadrille, Spa. 3
Pilote de chasse de grande classe. Ne cesse de rechercher Pennemi et entraine merveilleuse-
ment la patrouille dont il est chef. Le 2 mai, 191 8, a abattu seul son cinquieme avion ennemi.
Des le lendemain, a remporte sa sixieme victoire.
Le General Commandant la I** 9 Armee
(Signe) Debeney
Citation a POrdre de V Armee: 25 mat, 191 8
Baylies, Frank, M te 12186, Sergent au i er Regiment Etrangcr, Pilote a TEscadrille Spa. 3
Excellent pilote de chasse. Le 28 mars, son avion touche dans ses parties essentielles, a
atterri entre les lignes; degage par une patrouille cTinfanterie, est revenu aux debris de son
avion, malgre le feu ennemi, et a rapporte ses instruments de bord. Le 11 avril a abattu en
feu son troisieme avion ennemi.
Le General Commandant la I in Armee
(Signe) Debeney
Citation a POrdre de P Armee: 29 mai, 191 8
Baylifs, Frank, Sergent au i er Regiment fitranger, Pilote a TEscadrille Spa. 3
Brillant pilote de chasse. Les 9 et 10 mai, 1918, a abattu son septieme et huitieme ennemi.
Le General Commandant la l in Armee
(Signe) Debeney
FRANK L. BAYLIES
BAYLIES, Putnam, Lufbery, these are great names in the Lafayette
Flying Corps, a trio of superb pilots and keen fighting men. Luf-
bery, the best known of all, combined a cool caution with his skill in
shooting and combat tactics, rarely attacking at a disadvantage. Putnam
was a bitter and reckless fighter, dashing to the attack regardless of risk.
The genius of Baylies is more difficult to define; the French pilots of the
Cigognes, who watched and tutored him, declared that he possessed the qual-
ities of the greatest Aces, the straight shooting, the skill in maneuver, the
instinct for taking the enemy at a disadvantage. Even in the school, we
recognized in him a true individual touch in flying and an absolute disregard
of danger. His contemporaries will remember our horror and the monitor's
despair when Baylies did a vrille in an ancient Bleriot, unparalleled feat!
From the G.D.E., he went to the Front in the famous Spad 3, the Squad-
ron of Dorme, Heurteaux, Deuillin, and Guynemer, where the newly fledged
American corporal soon made a name for himself as a pilot of extraordinary
worth. His French comrades, critics of the keenest, predicted for him a bril-
liant career, and he was not slow in confirming their expectations. His esca-
drille was patrolling the most active sectors of the Western Front, pitted
against the best of Germany's fighting pilots. At Noyon, Montdidier, and on
the Somme, the Cigognes found their dreamed-of happy hunting grounds,
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FRANK L. BAYLIES
and in desperate combats against the formidable "Rednoses," "Checker-
boards," and "Tangos," Baylies soon made himself one of the wonders of
an escadrille cT elite. His tactics were faultless; he was a dead shot, and rarely-
broke off a combat until his opponent was plunging earthward, dead in his
cockpit or enveloped in flames.
Once, in his anxiety to make sure of a victory, he descended almost to the
ground, far behind the German lines. His victim crashed, but while return-
ing, Baylies had his machine riddled by bullets from the ground and his
motor ruined. Volplaning down with propeller stopped, he landed between
the French and German lines, only a few yards from the latter. Undoing
his belt before the wheels touched ground, he leaped from the still moving
machine, dodged two Germans who tried to catch him, and sprinted to a
French advance post, escaping, by some miracle, through a storm of lead
from the enemy lines.
Toward the end, Baylies was considered almost invincible. In attacking,
he held his fire until at point-blank range, when his first burst was usually
fatal. In three months he scored twelve official victories and many others,
undoubtedly shot down, but too far in the enemy lines for official confirma-
tion under the strict French system.
Personally, Baylies was the most attractive of men, frank, kind, and
jolly, the kind of a chap who is always good company. In a crowd he did not
often speak seriously, but his close friends knew that beneath his bluff man-
ner ran a vein of though tfulness and genuine idealism; it was not for pure
love of adventure that he worked so honorably as an ambulance driver,
joined the Aviation, and made at last the greatest sacrifice. His modesty was
always charming; no amount of success could turn his head or alter his simple
statement that his victories were due to luck.
He was killed during the bitter fighting along the west side of the Marne
Salient. We shall never know the exact circumstances. It was five o'clock on
the afternoon of June 17, in the region between Crevecoeur and Lassigny.
Adjudant Parsons, of the Cigognes, reported that Baylies fell in flames after
being attacked by four German monoplaces. Sinclaire, of the Spad 68, was
flying with a comrade over the same region. He saw a patrol of Germans well
within their lines, and as he turned to attack them he saw three Spads, bear-
ing on their sides the famous insignia of the Cigognes, heading eastward after
a second patrol of Fokker triplanes, still farther in. When his combat broke
off, Sinclaire caught a glimpse of a distant machine, which he feared was a
Spad, going down in flames. This was undoubtedly Baylies, cut off in the
prime of his skill and fame; sincerely mourned by his comrades and by the
entire Aviation of France.
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SERVICE RECORD
James Alexander Bayne, Grand
Rapids, Michigan.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 10, 19 17.
Aviation Schools:
July 19, 191 7, to February 26,
19 1 8, Avord, Tours, Pau,
Cazeaux, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 19, 191 7 (Cau-
dron).
At the Front:
Escadrille Spad 85, March 1 to
March 3, 191 8.
Escadrille Spad 81, March 3 to
March 29, 191 8.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant:
March 29, 19 18.
At the Front: Attached to the French Squadron Spad 81, March 29 to May 8, 191 8.
Killed in line of duty: May 8, 1918.
JAMES ALEXANDER BAYNE
BAYNE was a fine example of the serious, successful young American
who felt it his duty to take an active part in fighting the German
aggressors. A sportsman in civil life, he had sailed racing craft and
driven high-speed motor boats for several years; he took naturally to avia-
tion and made it a serious study. His interest in motors and the technical
side of flying made him stand out among his more irresponsible comrades,
and unlike many of the technically inclined, he developed into a skillful and
daring pilot.
Bayne went to the Front, in the Escadrille Spad 85, on March 1, 191 8,
and was commissioned a First Lieutenant in the United States Army while
on service with Spad 81. During the short time he was with the Squadron,
he showed great promise, but on May 8, 191 8, while testing a 220 H.P. Spad,
he met his death. The exact cause of the accident cannot be determined. At
2000 meters above the field, he was seen to go into a steep dive, which con-
tinued for about 1000 meters when suddenly the four wings came off the
machine and the fuselage plunged into the ground, killing Bayne instantly.
It is possible, as happens sometimes to the strongest, that he fainted and
went into a dive with full motor; it is possible also that there was some de-
fect in the construction of his machine. We shall never know the truth.
The accident cost us a fine comrade, loved and respected by a wide circle of
friends, and a pilot who would have rendered good service to his country.
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SERVICE RECORD
Philip P. Benney, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Service in French Aviation :
Date oj enlistment: May 31, 19 17.
Aviation Schools: June 18 to December 10, 1917,
Avord, Tours, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 16, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 67: December 12,
1917, to January 26, 1918.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Seriously wounded in combat:
Near Montfaucon, January 25, 191 8.
Died in hospital: January 26, 1918.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATION
Citation a VOrdre de la II e Armee, N° 1080:
Le Brigadier Pilote Benney, Philip,
Pilote a l'Escadrille Spa. 67
Jeune pilote americain, engage volontaire
dans rArmee francaise, a toujours fait preuve
du plus bel entrain. A ete blesse tres grieve-
ment le 25 Janvier, 191 8, dans un dur com-
bat contre un groupe d'avions ennemis.
Mort glorieu semen t pour la France le 26
Janvier, 191 8, des suites de cette blessure.
Le Capitaine Commandant F Escadrille Spa. 67
(Signc) J. dTndy
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PHILIP P. BENNEY
THE circumstances of Phil Benney's death form a stirring commen-
tary on his own splendid pluck, and the self-sacrifice of the French
who tended him. On the 25th of January, at three o'clock in the
afternoon, Benney was on patrol with four comrades far beyond the enemy
lines before Verdun. All at once a
German patrol, which had stolen up
unperceived, attacked them from
beneath, and in the first exchange
of shots Benney was grievously
wounded — an explosive bullet in
the calf and another in the thigh.
Bleeding profusely and feeling his
consciousness slipping from him, he
managed, by a superb effort of cool-
ness and will power, to regain the
lines and land in friendly territory.
Kindhearted poilus ran to aid him,
lifted him from the machine, stanched
his wounds as best they could, and
rushed him to the hospital at Glori-
eux. There he was able to talk to his
comrades who came to the bedside
as fast as the touring car could bring
them; he seemed cheerful, and even
told Tailer to keep the news from his
family. But he had lost great quanti-
ri_ii jt^tt • l BENNEY (left) AND SPENCER
ties of blood, and Dr. Hennot, the
kind and skillful French surgeon in command, saw that an immediate trans-
fusion would be necessary. With fine self-sacrifice, Sergent Caze at once
offered his blood, and that not being sufficient, the Aide Major Reinhold
stepped forward to make up the deficit. It was in vain. Benney was beyond
human aid and died quietly in the night, mourned by all his comrades and
by the French who had worked so nobly to save him.
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SERVICE RECORD
Leo E. Benoit, Attleboro, Massachusetts.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 10, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 22 to November 15, 1917,
Avord, Juvisy, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 22, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 84, November 18 to
December 2, 191 7.
Escadrille Spad 228, February 1 to
April 1,1918.
Wounded: December 13, 191 7.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant: April 23,1918.
At the Front: Attached to French Escadrille Spad 228,
May 1 to August 25, 1918.
213th Pursuit Squadron, August 25,
19 1 8, to Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre.
CITATION
I* 1 * Armee
Service A£ronautique. Le 8 avril, 1919
Le Sergent Pilote Benoit, Leo, No. 5880 cite
a TOrdre du Jour la I** Armee
Engage volontaire au service de la France, pilote tres adroit et d'un sang-froid extraordi-
naire, a rempli sans arret d'une facon parfaite les nombreuses missions de guerre que lui
furent confiees.
Le 6 avril, 191 8, au cours d'une mission lointaine dans les lignes ennemies, il fut attaque
par une patrouUle de quatre avions ennemis, le Sergent Benoit fut blesse par une balle phos-
phoreuse; malgre sa blessure douloureux, continua sa mission, et rapporta des photos de la
plus importance.
Le Sergent Benoit a un avion ennemi a son actif.
Cette citation lui porte la Croix de Guerre.
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LEO E. BENOIT
BENOIT is one of the Lafayette men who took the Caudron training at
Juvisy. Breveted September 22, he did well at Pau, and went to the
Front on November 18, in Escadrille Spad 84. On one of his first
patrols he got lost and had a "smash" near Meaux; slightly injured in the
accident, he was sent back to the G.D.E., where he trained on the Spad
biplace, and returned to the Front on February 1, 1918, in Escadrille Spad
228.
In April, 1918, Benoit was transferred to the United States Air Service
with the rank of Second Lieutenant, and, at the request of his Squadron
Commander, was allowed to remain as an American officer attached to his
old French squadron. He was afterward sent to the 213th Pursuit Squadron,
and from August 25 until the Armistice was employed as a pilot with his
squadron and as a tester at the First Air Depot at Colombey-les-Belles.
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SERVICE RECORD
Charles J. Biddle, Andalusia, Pennsylvania.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: April 8, 19 17.
Aviation Schools: April 13 to July 26, 191 7,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: June 2, 19 1 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 73, July 28, 1917,
to January 10, 1918.
Escadrille Lafayette, January 10
to February 18, 191 8.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Captain, November 7, 19 1 7.
Promoted Major, November I, 1918.
At the Front: 103d Pursuit Squadron, February
18 to June 22, 191 8.
Commanding Officer, 13th Pur-
suit Squadron, June 22, to Oc-
tober 24, 19 1 8.
Commanding Officer, 4th Pursuit
Group, October 25, 1918, to
Armistice.
Wounded in combat: May 15, 1918.
Decorations:
Legion d'Honneur.
Croix de Guerre, with three Palms.
Ordre de Leopold (Belgium).
CITATIONS
I* re Armee, £tat-Major. Au Q.G.A., le 27 Janvier \ 1918
Le General Commandant la I** Armee cite a POrdre de 1' Armee:
Biddle, Charles, M le 12137, Caporal au I cr Regiment Stranger, Pilote a l'Escadrille S. 73
Americain engage voiontaire avant Tentree en guerre des £tats-Unis. Excellent pilote de
chasse; fait preuve journellement d'audace, d'energie, et de mepris du danger. Le 5 decembre,
1917, a abattu un avion ennemi dans nos lignes.
(Signe) Debeney
VI e Arm€e, £tat-Major. Q.G., le 29 avril, 191 8
Le General Commandant la VI C Armee cite a POrdre de P Armee:
Biddle, Charles John, Capitaine Pilote a rEscadrille Americaine N° 103 (Lafayette)
Officier pilote remarquable. Le 12 avril, a reussi a abattre un avion ennemi.
Detachement d'Armee du Nord, £tat Major. Q-G-, I* 4 /win, 1918
Le General de Mitry, Commandant le Detachement d'Armee du Nord, cite a l'Ordre de
1' Armee:
Le Capitaine Biddle, Charles John, de rEscadrille Lafayette
Pilote d'un allant merveilleux. A attaque successivement dans leurs lignes deux biplaces
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CHARLES J. BIDDLE
cnnemis, a probablement abattu le premier. Blesse et desempare au cours du 2*°* combat a
reussi a force d'energie a atterrir entre les lignes et a pu apres avoir passe la journee dans un
trou d'obus regagner de nuit les tranchees alliees.
(Signe) de Mitry
Grand Quartier General des Armees
Francaises de l'Est, £tat-Major. Le 17 mai, 19 19
Apres approbation du General Commandant en Chef les Forces Expeditionnaires Ameri-
caines en France, le marechal Commandant en Chef les Armees Francaises de l'Est cite
a TOrdre de l'Armee:
Capitaine Biddle, Charles J.
Citoyen americain engage dans la Legion Etrangere. Excellent pilote qui n'a pas cesse
de faire preuve des meilleures qualites de courage et de devouement. A rendu les plus grands
services comme pilote a rEscadrille Lafayette.
Le Marechal en Chef des Armees de V Est
Petain
Par Decretdu President de la Republique en date du 9 avril, 1919, le Capitaine Biddle
a ete promu Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur.
Cette promotion a ete fait avec le motif de cette citation.
CHARLES J. BIDDLE
CHARLES J. BIDDLE'S brilliant record in French aviation schools
was even more brilliantly fulfilled at the Front. The moniteurs at
Avord, Pau, and at G.D.E. regarded him as an unusually fine pilot.
He completed all of his training — Penguins, Bleriot, Caudron, Nieuport —
and the final advanced work in acrobacy and combat in less than three
months, and had almost a month to spare at Le Plessis-Belleville awaiting
his orders for assignment to a squadron. At Plessis one's time was for the
most part free, and it was the custom of many pilots to spend a large share
of it on French leave in Paris, which was only an hour distant by train. Biddle
might have followed the crowd, for he enjoyed good, wholesome amusement
as much as any one. But to him flying was the most fascinating of all amuse-
ments, and he never lost his zest for it. Furthermore, he knew, as all of us
knew, that most of the deaths in aviation, whether by accident or in com-
bat, were due to inexperience, and that a very large percentage of them oc-
curred during the pilot's early weeks at the Front. He had no desire to die for
France. He much preferred to live and to accomplish results for her. There-
fore, at the G.D.E. , as elsewhere, he kept steadily before him his purpose,
which was so to perfect himself in the management of combat planes that he
could be reasonably certain of getting results when he should be sent on ac-
tive duty. Had all the members of the Lafayette Corps been as keen for their
work, and as serious in their desire for success in it, the total of accomplish-
ment would have been more than doubled. But this is, perhaps, too broad a
statement, and does not make sufficient allowance for differences of tempera-
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CHARLES J. BIDDLE
ment and individuality. Charles Biddle is both a theorist and a man of action,
and the qualities of such opposite types are rarely combined, as he combined
them, successfully.
His first service at the Front was with the French squadron, Spad 73.
Oliver Chadwick was sent with him to this unit. The two men had much
in common, and all of us who knew them and their excellent records in the
aviation schools predicted great things for them. Both were fearless and ac-
complished combat pilots and were
among the very few of whom it could
be said that they had got all that
could be got from their training. But
in war there are no certainties, and
Chadwick was killed in an unequal
combat while saving another Allied
plane from destruction. Biddle splen-
didly avenged his death on Decem-
ber 5, 1917, when he shot down an
Albatross two-seater near Lange-
marck in Belgium. This was his only
official victory during his five months'
service with the French, but he actu-
ally destroyed other enemy machines
which were as surely victories and
which added as certainly to the losses
of the German Air Force.
During these early months of ac-
tive service, Biddle made a careful
study of combat tactics. Actual ex-
perience gained in his own battles
had taught him much, and he cor-
rected or confirmed his findings by
biddle at the front consulting the most famous of the
French pilots with whom he came in
contact. The result of this study was a monograph on aerial combat which
was later adopted for use in the instruction of pilots in the U.S. Air Service.
It had the merit of being a thoroughly readable and interesting as well as
a practical study, and was but one of Biddle's many ways of being useful to
his country in time of war.
He was commissioned as Captain in the U.S. Air Service on November 7,
191 7, and in common with most of the Lafayette men was compelled to waste
valuable time in inactivity while awaiting active duty orders. He remained
with Spad 73 until early in January, and a month later was sent to the Es-
cadrille Lafayette which was then on the point of becoming the 103d Ameri-
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CHARLES J. BIDDLE
can Pursuit Squadron. That was a happy time in the history of the Esca-
drxile. All of the pilots were in American uniform, although still under French
orders. William Thaw, the best of C.O.'s, was in charge, with Lieutenant
Verdier-Fauvety second-in-command. We had good Spads and plenty of
them. Beside the regular daily patrols there were many voluntary ones, for
every pilot was eager to secure the first official victory for the U.S. Air Serv-
ice. The honor fell to Paul Baer, who shot down an Albatross near Rheims
on March II, 1918. Biddle, who was always the first to suggest a voluntary
patrol, brought down the iojd's seventh plane on April 12, a two-seater
Halberstadt, which fell at Corbeny on the Chemin-des-Dames. Under ordi-
nary conditions a battle with a two-seater is far more of a sporting proposi-
tion than a single-seater and requires twice the skill at maneuvering. Biddle
made good theory meet with sound practice — the result being that three
of his seven official victories were the result of battles with two-passenger
machines.
While he was with the Escadrille Lafayette on the Champagne sector, the
German airmen on the opposite side of the lines destroyed a good many
French observation balloons. They made their attacks with exasperating
frequency and success. Their incendiary bullets seemed flawless and rarely
if ever failed in igniting a gas bag. Finally, when no attempt at retaliation
was made by the French Q.G., Biddle decided to call the matter to the atten-
tion of Commandant Fequant, and to ask that he and one of his comrades
of the 103d be permitted to concentrate their energies on German balloons. -
The two men were told, what they had already learned by experiment, that
the incendiary bullets, then in use by the French, would not ignite the gas
in German balloons, and that while a more satisfactory kind of bullet would
soon be ready, none were at hand at that time. This was a great disappoint-
ment to Biddle. It was unfortunate that his plan could not be carried out,
for he left nothing to chance and would undoubtedly have destroyed many
German balloons.
On May 15, 1918, he had one of the most unpleasant as well as the most
thrilling experiences which can happen to an airman. He was shot down,
wounded, in No Man's Land. The enemy machine was flying at 600 meters
over the desolate battle-fields between Langemarck and Ypres where the
opposing lines are no more than a series of shell-holes joined together. Bid-
dle described it as "the slowest bus I ever saw, with a rounded body, a
square tail, and the lower wing much shorter than the upper, like many
English two-seater observation planes. Whether or not this fellow was
what I think he was (an armored plane of the new Junker type), he cer-
tainly got the best of me, and I don't feel at all vindictive about it, as it was
a perfectly fair fight, but just the same it would give me more satisfaction to
bring that boy down than any five others. It would also be interesting to
see whether his hide is thick enough to stand a good dose of armor-piercing
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CHARLES J. BIDDLE
bullets at close range. An incendiary bullet in his gas tank might also make
his old boiler factory a warm place to fly in. . . . The observer did the
quickest and most accurate bit of shooting I have yet run up against, and
his very first shot came crashing through the front of my machine above
the motor and caught me just on top of the left knee. It felt more like a
crack on the leg from a fast pitched ball than anything else I know of, ex-
cept that there is also a sort of penetrating feeling one gets from a bullet."
With his motor rendered useless by bullets, he was compelled to land at
once, his machine crashing in a maze of barbed wire and overlapping shell-
RUMPLER TWO-SEATER BROUGHT DOWN BY MAJOR CHARLES BIDDLE. AUGUST 16, 1918
holes, less than seventy yards from the enemy trenches and several hundred
from the British. Under heavy shell and machine-gun fire, he crawled and
ran and waded to a British observation post, covering the last fifty yards,
despite his wound, in about .02 flat, to give his own estimate.
In less than a month he was again at the Front as CO. of the 13th Pursuit
Squadron, and on August 1, brought down his third and fourth enemy ma-
chines at Preny, north of Pont-a-Mousson, both Albatross single-seaters.
On August 16, in a single combat with a Rumpler two-seater, he killed the
enemy observer and forced the pilot to land in the French lines near Bouxi-
eres-aux-Dames, near Nancy. The plane was intact. His sixth official victory
was over a Fokker single-seater, shot down at Flabas, near Verdun, on
September 26; and his seventh the result of a battle over Bantheville, in the
Argonne sector, where another Fokker was destroyed.
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CHARLES J. BIDDLE
On October 25, Biddle was placed in command of the Fourth Pursuit
Group and a few days later he was promoted to the rank of Major. There
was no man in the Lafayette Corps more richly deserving of recognition or
more competent to fill a position of great responsibility. From the date of his
enlistment until his demobilization in 191 9, he served both France and
America with distinction and honor. He could not have done otherwise.
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SERVICE RECORD
Julian Cornell Biddle, Ambler, Pennsylvania.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 25, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 2 to August 8, 19 17,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: June 20, 191 7 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 73, August 1 1 to
August 18, 1917.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Killed in line of duty:
August 18, 1917, near Dunkirk.
N'
JULIAN CORNELL BIDDLE
ONE of his contemporaries
at Avord will forget Julian
Biddle. His quiet and pleas-
ant manner concealed a burning de-
termination to get to the Front —
a zeal to fight for the Allied cause
which made him an inspiration to his
comrades.
At home Biddle was well known
as a cross-country rider and athlete.
He took up aviation as a sport in the early days of the war, receiving his
pilot's license in 1916. Impatient to fly and to fight, he crossed to France
early in the following year, joined the Lafayette Flying Corps, and arrived
at Avord on June 2. Even though he was already a pilot, his performance
in the Bleriot School was remarkable, for he was breveted on June 20. On
July 13 he arrived at Pau, finished the course in fourteen days, went to the
Front on August 11, and made his last sortie on August 18. No pilot ever
left a briefer or finer record in the schools, and none gave promise of a more
brilliant future at the Front.
The exact circumstances of Biddle's death will never be known. At 10.45
in the morning he left the aerodrome for a short practice flight and fell into
the sea a few kilometers west of Dunkirk; fragments of his Spad were found
floating in the water, and it is probable that he fell in an encounter with a
German bombing flight which raided the south coast of England that day.
At his death the Lafayette Flying Corps lost a man who would surely have
added to its laurels, and he will always be mourned by the many friends who
admired his modesty, his determination, and fine courage.
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SERVICE RECORD
Stephen Bigelow, Boston, Massachusetts.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: April 13, 19 16.
Aviation Schools: June 9, 1916, to January 20,
19 1 7, Buc, Avord, Cazeaux,
Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 8, 1916 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 102, January 24
to February 8, 191 7.
Escadrille Lafayette, February 8
to September 11, 1917.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Wounded in combat: August 20, 1917.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
CITATIONS
G.C. 13, Escadrille N. 124.
Citation a YOrdre de V Aeronautique:
Par decision du Chef d'£tat-Major de la
2 e Armee, en date du 31 aout, 1917, le
militaire dont le nom suit a ete cite a
TOrdre de T Aeronautique:
Bigelow, Stephen, matricule 1 1737, Sergent
Pilote a T Escadrille N. 124 (G.C. 13)
Citoyen americain engage au service de la France, au cours d'une protection de bombarde-
ment a soutenu le combat contre 6 appareils ennemies qui venaient attaquer un de nos avions.
A degage et a ete legerement blesse au cours du combat.
STEPHEN BIGELOW
ENLISTING on April 13, 1916, Bigelow was trained on Bleriot at Buc
and at Avord, and got to the Front on January 24, 1917, assigned to
the Escadrille N. 102. A few days later he was transferred to the N.
124, with which he serv.ed until autumn, when his health gave way and he
was invalided out of the army. His most memorable experience at the Front
was probably as a member of the patrol sent to protect a large group of Sop-
withs on a bombing raid into enemy territory — the day that Lovell got a
Boche in flames and Willis was made prisoner. In the free-for-all combat
over Dun-sur-Meuse, Bigelow earned a wound stripe and a citation — in
his successful defense of a Sopwith against the attacks of six Albatross.
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SERVICE RECORD
Charles Raymond Blake, Westerly, Rhode
Island.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1917.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 4, 1917.
Aviation Schools: July 19, 1917, to March 8, 1918,
Avord, Tours, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 27, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Br. 29, March 11 to
April 1 8, 1918.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: March 17, 191 8.
At the Front: Attached to his former French
unit, Br. 29, April 18 to Septem-
ber 3, 1918.
7th A.I.C., Clermont-Ferrand,
September 7, 191 8, to Armistice.
Decorations:
Distinguished Service Cross.
Croix de Guerre, with Palm and Star.
CITATIONS
Le 10 aout f 191 8
Escadre 12, Escadrille Br. 29, G.B. 9.
Le Chef d'Escadron Vuillemin, Commandant
PEscadre de Bombardement N° 12, cite a POrdre de PEscadre:
Le Premier Lieutenant Pilote Americain Blake, Raymond, de PEscadrille N. 29
Officier pilote americain, plein de bravoure et d'en train, a effectue plus de 25 bombarde-
ments depuis son arrivee a PEscadrille.
Marchant jusqu'a trois fois dans une journee, notamment les 30 et 31 mai, 191 8, dans
des circonstances les plus perilleuses en depit des attaques violentes des avions ennemis.
(Sign?) Vuillemin
G.H.Q., A.E.F.
First Lieutenant Charles Raymond Blake, Pilot, Air Service
Near Lassigny, France, on August 9, 191 8, Lieutenant Blake, with Second Lieutenant
Earl W. Porter, observer, while on a reconnaissance expedition at a low altitude far beyond
the enemy lines, was attacked by five German battle planes. His observer was wounded at the
beginning of the combat, but he maneuvered his plane so skillfully that the observer was
able to shoot down one of their adversaries. By more skillful maneuvering he enabled his ob-
server to fight off the remaining planes and returned safely to friendly territory.
By order of General Pershing
G.Q.G., 10 decembre, 1918
i cr Lieutenant Pilote Charles Raymond Blake, a PEscadrille Br. 29
Officier plein d'allant, ayant a son actif plus de 30 bombardements. Le 9 aout, 191 8, au
cours d'une expedition a faible altitude, s'est trouve seul aux prises avec cinq avions. Bien
qu'ayant son observateur blesse, a reussi, apres avoir abattu un de ses adversaires, a se
degager et a rentrer dans nos lignes.
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CHARLES RAYMOND BLAKE
BLAKE served six months with the American Field Service before en-
listing in the Lafayette Flying Corps on July I, 191 7. Breveted at
Tours, he took a course at the French bombing school at Sacy-le-
Grand, and was sent to the Escadrille Breguet 29 in March, 191 8. After
being commissioned in the United States Army, he was reassigned to his
Escadrille, where he made 37 official bombing raids, covering the whole
Front between Arras and Chateau-Thierry.
br£guet day bombers in formation
On August 9, 191 8, Blake had a very close call. He became separated from
his formation and went on alone to the objective, where he dropped his
bombs from an altitude of 1500 meters. As he started to return home, he was
attacked by five Fokkers. His observer, Lieutenant Earl W. Porter, was
shot through the jaw and the neck in one of the first bursts of fire, but very
pluckily continued to defend the Breguet, which enabled Blake to bring his
machine back to our lines, almost shot to pieces by German bullets. For this
feat, both observer and pilot received the D.S.C. as well as a citation to the
order of the French army.
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SERVICE RECORD
Arthur Bluthenthal, Wilmington, Delaware.
Previous Service: American Ambulance on serv-
ice in Macedonia, 191 6.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment : June I, 19 1 7.
Aviation Schools : June 9, 19 17, to March 15,
1918, Avord, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 22, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Breguet 227, March 17
to June s, 1918.
Final Rank: SergenU
Killed in combat: June 5, 1918, near Maignelay
(Oise).
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star (American Ambulance).
Croix de Guerre, with Palm (Aviation).
CITATIONS
9Juin, 191 8
Bluthenthal (Arthur), M k 12203
Caporal au i cr Regiment fitranger, a TEs-
cadrille Br. 227
Pilote americain de premier ordre. S'est
engage dans la Legion Etrangere, pour pou-
voir servir en France dans Paviation. S'est
fait remarquer, des ses debuts, par son esprit de discipline et son courage reflechi. A voulu
continuer a servir dans une escadrille francaise, au cours de la bataille actuelle, avant de
passer dans Taviation americaine. Le 5 juin, pendant un reglage lointain, a ete tue en combat.
Cette citation comporte Pattribution de la Croix de Guerre avec palme.
ARTHUR BLUTHENTHAL
THE following letter, written by an Englishman, Captain Inness-
Brown, appeared in the Paris "Herald" of June 29, 191 8 — a trib-
ute to the memory of a lovable comrade and a very gallant soldier.
"In the death of Arthur Bluthenthal, killed in an aerial battle some few
days ago, France and America lose one of their stanchest patriots. To come
to death alone, high in the air, with no friend to tell the story of the struggle
and to be buried in a lonely spot near the Front, unofficially, with little pub-
licity, would have been the fate that Bluthenthal would have desired, could
he have chosen. At all times he shunned being considered a hero, and when
a friend said to him jokingly that his fear of publicity amounted almost
to conceit, he replied: * Conceit, it may be, but IVe always taken serving
France so seriously that I hardly ever want to talk about it.'
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ARTHUR BLUTHENTHAL
"This feeling of serving France, just for herself and nothing more, is not
an unfamiliar one. It has been expressed by many of her own people who
have felt that to have accomplished the deed for France was enough. This
spirit was shared by such men as Jim McConnell, another of America's sons
to die for France. It seemed to be the mainstay of Bluthenthal, through his
two long years of service, first with the American Field Service and then in
the capacity of a bombing pilot. Just before he was killed, he wrote to one of
his friends : * I am not doing much in the line of fighting, not nearly so much
as I would like. Being too heavy for an avion de chasse, they've shipped me
into a bombing squadron. It's pretty good fun, and moreover, though every
now and then it's boring, it has its exciting moments. Anyhow, I am glad to
be alive.'
"But Bluthenthal did not only serve as a bomber. His loyalty to France
and to the spirit which prompted him to aid Her, made him Her champion
wherever Her name was mentioned. No one could speak of Her depravities
in his presence, and really be in earnest about it. His short, stocky frame, his
massive shoulders, his heavy neck, told in a moment's glance his strength.
His determination to make those about him realize that gossiping about the
good name of France was not to be tolerated, though it made him some ene-
mies, won him many, many friends. His strength and bravery gave him an
advantage in an argument that few people tried to overcome. Those that did
try generally found themselves wishing that they had not. This was his
serious side.
"However much he was a Frenchman at heart, Bluthenthal was at the
same time a loyal and stanch American. He used to say, when others criti-
cized the United States for not coming into the war: 'Well, give 'em time,
they'll wake up.' While he was always putting forth the side of France, not
once have I known him to say anything that could be interpreted as disloyal
to America. He was one of the pioneers, yet he never lost that poise, the lack
of which in the beginning of things made a great many forget for a moment
their own country."
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SERVICE RECORD
Pierre Boal, Boalsburg, Pennsylvania.
Previous Service: First (French) Regiment of Cui-
rassiers, August, 1914, to May 1, 1916.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 24, 1916.
Aviation Schools: June 5, 1916, to February 1,
191 7, Buc, as eleve-pilote and
afterward as interpreter for
the American volunteers
training in this school.
Service in U.S. Aviation :
Commissioned Captain: March 10, 1917.
Breveted: U.S. Aviation School, San Antonio,
Texas (Curtiss).
Adjutant to Chief of Training Division, U.S.A.S.,
Washington, D.C.
On duty in France as Officer in Charge of Ameri-
can pilots assigned to French squadrons.
Attached to Groupe Weiller, French G.H.Q.
(Long distance reconnaissance.)
P!
PIERRE BOAL
JERRE BOAL enlisted in the
very early days of the war, in
the First (French) Regiment of
Cuirassiers, and served at the Front with this unit until his transfer to the
Lafayette Flying Corps on May 24, 1916. He was among the first of the little
group of Americans to be sent to Buc for training on the Bleriot monoplane.
Proving inapt — as most eleves-pilotes did at first — at handling alone, this
difficult machine, he was proposed for radiation, but instead of accepting his
discharge from service as he might have done, he remained at the school
at his own request, acting as interpreter for the other American pilots. His
knowledge of French and his own experience at flying Bleriots were at the
service of all later comers, and it was Boal who saved more than one of
them from being released because of early awkwardness in learning to fly.
In January, 191 7, when the Bleriot School was moved from Buc to Avord
(Cher), he went to America on leave, but his interest in the Lafayette Corps
never waned. He served there as he had in France, giving invaluable cooper-
ation to the Executive Committee of the Corps in Paris.
Some time later he received a Captain's commission in the U.S. Air Force
and gained his wings at an American flying field. After serving for several
months in America, he was sent again to France where he was placed in
charge of all of the American pilots who were temporarily assigned to French
units at the Front; and worked with Major Gros as Aviation Liaison Officer
between the French and American Air Services.
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SERVICE RECORD
Ellison Converse Boggs, New York City.
Service in French Aviation :
Date of enlistment: August 4, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: August 5, 191 7, to April 18,
1918, Avord, Tours, Pau,
Cazeaux, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 23, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 81, April 21, 1918,
to Armistice.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
CITATIONS
Citation d VOrdre de V Aeronautique du
22 juillet, 1918
Le Commandant de TEscadre cite a POrdre
de T Aeronautique:
Boggs, Ellison, Sergent Pilote a
T Escadrille Spa. 81
Tres bon pilote de chasse, adroit et brave.
S'est deja signale dans de nombreux et durs
combats. Le 15 juillet, 191 8, a contribue a
Pincendie d'un drachen enflamme malgre
Tintervention de nombreux Fokkers.
(Signe) Le Commandant de V Escadrille
Spa. 81
ELLISON BOGGS
ELLISON BOGGS, with Tommy Hitchcock, shared the distinction of
being the youngest members of the Lafayette Flying Corps. He was
also the last of the Americans accepted for enlistment in the French
Aviation Service. Breveted at Tours, on October 23, 191 7, he arrived at the
G.D.E. on January 10 of the following year, but illness prevented his going
to the Front until April 21, when he was sent to Escadrille Spad 81. During
eight months of service with this squadron, Boggs gave an excellent account
of himself and got along particularly well with his French comrades.
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SERVICE RECORD
Vernon Booth. Jr., New York City.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 3, 191 7.
Amotion Schools: June 10, 1917, to January 8,
1918, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 26, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 96, January 10 to
June 25, 19 1 8.
Final Rank: SergenU
Wounded in combat: Near Longpont (Aisne)
June 25, 1918.
Died in hospital: At Royaumont, July 10, 1918.
Decorations:
Medaille Militaire.
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATIONS
Grand Quartier General des
Armees du Nord et de Nord-Est
£tat-Ma j or. Le 2 7 ju illet f 1 9 1 8
En vertu des pouvoirs qui lui sont conferes
par la decision ministerielle N° 12285 K.
du 8 aout, 191 4, le General Commandant
en Chef a fait, a la date du 27 juillet,
191 8, dans TOrdre de la Legion d'Hon-
neur, les nominations suivantes: . . .
En outre, le General Commandant en Chef a confere la Medaille Militaire, aux Militaires
dont les noms suivent: ...
A la date du 4 juillet, 191 8:
Booth, Vernon, M 1c 41494 (active), Sergent au i cr Regiment de la Legion £trangere,
Pilote Aviateur Esc. Spa. 96
Pilote d'un splendide courage. Au cours d'un combat contre quatre avions ennemis a
ete grievement blesse, son appareil ayant pris feu en Pair, a pu grace a sa presence d'esprit
et malgre de fortes briilures eteindre l'incendie et atterrir normalement entre les lignes a
quarante metres des tranchees ennemies. A incendie son appareil et regagne les positions
francaises malgre un feu violent des canons et des mitrailleuses.
Les nominations ci-dessus comportent Tattribution de la Croix de Guerre avec palme.
Le General Commandant en Chef
Petain
VERNON BOOTH
TO those of us who enjoyed the privilege of Booth's close friendship,
it is oftentimes impossible to realize that he is gone. He was so gay,
so merry, so vitally alive — a charming companion and a friend to
count on through thick and thin. On the boulevards, in the haunts of former
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VERNON BOOTH
happy leaves, we caught ourselves scanning half unconsciously the passing
faces in hopes of seeing "Vernie's" quizzical smile of welcome and hearing
his jolly voice. Late in the spring we heard of his marriage and the whole
Corps joined in sympathy with his happiness; when the news came to
us that he was gone, the thought
of his widow — a bride only a few
weeks before — added an extra pang
to our grief. Even in the schools we
knew Booth for a man of the coolest
courage and absolute disregard of
danger, but knowing him as we did
we were still forced to marvel at his
last exploit — certainly one of the
finest examples of cold daring the
war has produced.
On June 25, above the fighting to
the south of Soissons, Booth was en-
gaged in bitter combat with a swarm
of Fokkers. Hemmed in, outnum-
bered and maneuvering desperately,
always on the offensive, Booth's ma-
chine was suddenly set on fire by an
incendiary bullet, and at the same
instant an explosive ball shattered
his right leg, inflicting a terrible
wound. Enveloped in flames and, in
an agony of pain, he still kept his
head, and after a straight plunge of
6000 feet succeeded in putting out davis and booth at nice
the fire. But by now the motor had
stopped for good, forcing him to land near Longpont, by misfortune at
a point exactly between the lines, forty yards from the Germans — thirty
from the French. The Germans promptly turned rifles, machine guns, and
even 37 mm. cannon on the Spad, but in spite of a storm of lead and bursting
shell, severely burned and dragging a mangled leg, Booth painfully extri-
cated himself from his plane, deliberately set fire to what remained of it y and
crawled to the French lines. In the hospital, on July 4, this splendid act of
courage was rewarded with the Medaille Militaire, and on July 10 Booth
died from the effects of his wounds. He was the best-loved of comrades and a
soldier who upheld with honor the finest traditions of his country.
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EDGAR BOULIGNY (IN REAR) WITH SERGENT FOUCHER
HIS MACHINE-GUNNER
Attached to American Aviation in France from June 14, 19 18.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
CITATION
SERVICE RECORD
Edgar J. Boulicny, New Orleans,
Louisiana.
Previous Service:
August 6, 1914, to May 1, 1917.
Foreign Legion (Infantry).
Wounded four times.
Service in French Aviation :
Date of enlistment: May 15, 191 7.
Aviation Schools:
June 7, 1917, to March 30, 1918,
fitampes, Chateau roux.
Breveted: July 13, 1917 (Farman).
At the Front :
Escadrille N. 501 (Army of the
Orient), April 24 to June 14,
1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant:
October 24, 19 18.
Regiment de Marche
de la Legion Etrangere
2 C Corps d'Armee Colonial
i c Division, i c Brigade.
Citation a VOrdre de la Division :
Le General Degoutte, Commandant la Division, cite a l'ordre de la Division:
Bouligny, Edward, Sergent, M k 42612
Motif de la citation: Excellent sous-officier, energique et devoue. Blesse dans la tranchee
par un eclat de grenade a la jambe gauche, a continue a assurer son service pendant toute
la nuit. Ne s'est fait panser que le lendemain matin et a ete immediatement evacue. Deja
blesse en Champagne en septembre, 191 5.
(Signe) Metz
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EDGAR J. BOULIGNY
EDGAR BOULIGNY, as his name would indicate, is of French descent.
One of his grand-uncles, Dominique Bouligny, commanded a regi-
ment of French troops in the Louisiana Territory, and when the land
was sold by Napoleon to the United States, he became an American citizen
and later a member of the U.S. Senate. Edgar Bouligny responded to the
prompting of his French blood and joined the Legion on August 6, 1914
During his two years and eight months as an infantryman he was wounded
four times, first by a fragment of shell casing, then by a coup de couteau dur-
ing a hand-to-hand fight in No Man's Land with a patrol of Germans; the
third time by a machine-gun bullet; and the fourth in the explosion of a hand
grenade when he came dangerously near losing a leg as the result of his in-
juries. He received the Croix de Guerre and the galons of a sergeant while
serving in the Legion and was the last of the American legionnaires to trans-
fer to the Aviation Service.
In the spring of 191 8 he returned to the Front as a pilot, being sent to the
French Squadron N 501 of the Army of the Orient. His unit was a combined
combat and reconnaissance squadron, flying both Farmans and Nieuports,
OVER THE MACEDONIAN FRONT
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EDGAR J. BOULIGNY
and Bouligny was engaged in all kinds of aerial missions on both the Serbian
and Albanian Fronts. There was no man in the Lafayette Corps more justly
entitled to generous recognition on the part of the American Government
for his long and splendid service. He had been constantly on active duty in
the Infantry and in Aviation for more than four years, and yet, upon his
transfer to our own Air Service, he was commissioned only as a Second
Lieutenant. The fault is partly his own, however. Much as he knew of war
he was sadly ignorant of the delicate art of wire-pulling which is often so
necessary in securing military preferment. Furthermore, he was always at
the Front, and had no time to further his own interests at G.H.Q.'s and
other centers of intrigue. But it is impossible to imagine Bouligny talking
about or for himself. A modest and brave soldier, he carried on at his post
of duty and let the plums fall where they would. His record speaks for itself
more eloquently than any military award.
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SERVICE RECORD
Lester Stray er Brady, Lock Haven, Pennsyl-
vania.
Service in French Aviation :
Date of enlistment: May 28, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: May 28, 191 7, to February 23,
191 8, Avord, Juvisy, Pau,
G.D.E.
Breveted: November 6, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 26, February 23
to April 13, 1918.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant: April 16, 1918.
On duty in Paris: April 13 to June 7, 191 8.
Ferry-Pilot: American Acceptance Park, Orly,
June 7 to July 16, 1918.
At the Front: First Observation Group, July 16
to August 21, 191 8.
135th and 27th Pursuit Squadrons,
August 30, 191 8, to Armistice.
LESTER STRAYER BRADY
IN the schools Brady seemed to bear a charmed life; twice he escaped
unhurt from crashes of the most disastrous and sensational character.
From the G.D.E. he was sent to the Escadrille Spad 26 on February 23,
191 8, and served with that unit until his transfer to the American army. He
was assigned first to Orly for duty as a ferry-pilot, and from July 16 until
the Armistice was on various duty both at the Front and in Paris.
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SERVICE RECORD
Rat Claflin Bridgman, Lake Forest, Illinois.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 24, 191 6.
Aviation Schools: August 10, 1916, to April 10,
191 7, Buc, Juvisy, Avord,
Cazeaux, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: December 5, 19 16 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille N. 49, April 13 to April
27, I9I7-
Escadrille Lafayette, May 1, 191 7,
to February 18, 191 8.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Captain: February 4, 191 8.
At the Front: Flight Commander of 103d Pur-
suit Squadron, February 18 to
August 15, 1918.
Commanding Officer 22d Pursuit
Squadron, August 15, 1918, to
Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
CITATION
29 octobre, 191 7
Par decision du Chef d'E.M. de la VI mc
Armee
Le Sergent Pilote Bridgman de la Spad 124
est cite a l'Ordre de PAeronautique de la VI me Armee avec le motif suivant:
Citoyen americain engage le 7 aout, 1916, dans PAeronautique. Arrive a PEscadrille
Lafayette le 2 mai, 191 7.
Pilote de chasse adroit, modeste, et consciencieux, a toujours rempli avec beaucoup d'allant
les missions qui lui ont ete confiees.
A plusieurs fois mitraille les reserves de PInfanterie ennemie au cours de la derniere attaque.
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RAY CLAFLIN BRIDGMAN
THE French citation of Ray Bridgman appeared under the date of
October 29, 191 7. It is quoted below and the only reason for speak-
ing of it here is that in the text of that brief description you have
" Bridgman " absolutely true to life. "A combat pilot, skillful, modest and
conscientious; has always fulfilled with the greatest keenness the missions
which have been entrusted to him." French official praise often errs on the
side of generosity. Not so in " Bridgie's " case. Ask any of his old comrades
of Spad 124 who have flown with him, followed him on patrol, fought with
him. He was one of the keenest pilots, one of the most aggressive fighters
the Squadron ever had, and this despite the fact that he hated war with his
whole soul.
For a long time he was the luckiest of unlucky men. He had any number
of combats, but the inevitable result would be that he would come limping
homeward de loin chez les Boches, with no decision in his favor, at least no
victory which could be officially confirmed.
There was never any doubt about the nature of his battles or the closeness
of his contact with enemy planes. His Spad was always a battle-scarred old
bird, and if he happened to be flying a new machine, in a week's time
wings and fuselage would be plastered over with patches of fabric. One rea-
son for this was that it appeared to be his fortune always to attack two-
seaters. Many an enemy machine-gunner has sprayed bullets in Bridgman's
direction with a good deal of accuracy while his pilot dove headlong into the
German lines.
A pilot's record in enemy planes destroyed is never a criterion of the real
quality of his service. This is particularly true of Ray C. Bridgman. When
he was leading a patrol, enemy reglage, reconnaissance, and photographic
planes had an anxious time of it. They were never able to carry out their
routine work, but had to spend all their time fighting rear guard actions.
The result was that enemy batteries were deprived of their eyes, and enemy
chiefs of staff, of much-needed information relative to the disposition and
movements of Allied troops.
From the first of April, 191 7, until the end of the war, he was always on
active duty at the Front. It is difficult to speak with restraint of his service
to the Allied cause. It was so immeasurably fine in kind. One must have
known him intimately, in the popote, on patrol, in combat. No American
volunteer has tried harder to live up to an ideal duty. It was an almost im-
possible task because of the loftiness of the ideal. In his own opinion, no
doubt, he failed, but it was a failure most men would call splendid success.
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SERVICE RECORD
Jasper C. Brown, New York City.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 19, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 20, 1917, to February 1,
1918, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: November 6, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 67, February 3
to March 29, 1918.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant: March 29,
1918. Promoted First Lieutenant October* 22,
1918.
At the Front: Attached to the French Squadron
Spad 67, March 29, 1918, to
Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATION
Grand Quartier General des
Armees Fran£aises de l'Est
£tat-Major. 25 Janvier, 1919
Le Marechal de France, Commandant en
Chef les Armees Francaises de l'Est,
cite a l'Ordre de l'Armee:
Lieutenant Jasper Brown a PEscadrille Spa. 67
Officier pilote de grande valeur, ayant fait preuve des plus belles qualites militaires. De-
puis 10 mois a PEscadrille a affirme son adresse et son courage au cours de nombreuses
patrouilles et de nombreux combats, ou il s'est toujours montre sur de lui-meme. D'une
conscience et d'un devouement absolus, a conquis Testime de tous.
(Signe) Petain
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JASPER C. BROWN
BROWN was one of the last Bleriot men to be breveted at Avord, and
after going through Pau was sent to the Spad 67. After his transfer
to the American army, he was allowed to continue in his French
squadron until the end of the war, and did 'good work all through the sum-
mer's severe fighting.
Brown is a genuine numero — full of dry humor, always ready for any sort
of prank, always entertaining. At Avord, during the long spell of bad
weather, he was to be found at the cafe known as "The Old Lady's,"
where his drolleries kept a roomful in good humor. He presided over the lit-
tle coterie which dined each night in the back room — A. Ash, Phil Davis,
Charlie Chapman, and Bill McKerness. All these good fellows are gone, but
Brown has carried on, saddened without doubt, but still the same droll and
cheerful comrade.
During the heavy fighting of March and April, 1918, in the region of
Montdidier, Brown had an exceptionally broad experience of the thrills
of ground-strafing, and during the autumn, in the battles to the north of
Chalons, he shot down two Hanovranners in pieces — both too far within
the enemy lines for official confirmation.
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SERVICE RECORD
Everett T. Buckley, Kilbourne, Illinois.
Service in French Aviation :
Date of enlistment: January 6, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: January 16 to July 30, 191 y y
Buc, Pau, Avord, G.D.E.
Breveted: June 2, 1917 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 65, August 3 to
September 6, 191 7.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Shot down and wounded in combat: September 6,
1917, over Dun-sur-Meuse.
Prisoner in Germany: Until July 1, 1918. Escaped
into Switzerland.
EVERETT T. BUCKLEY
E
i VERETT T. BUCKLEY had
the good fortune to be sent
to the crack French squadron
Spad 65, the escadrille of Lieutenant
Nungesser. Groupede Combat 13 was
then at Senard on the Verdun sector.
Throughout the summer of 1917, this
was the liveliest part of the French
everett buckley at G.D.E. Front for airmen, and throughout the
war always a dangerous salient for
the young pilot. Enemy patrols could cross it on two sides, and with the sun
behind their backs, they often swooped in from the east, attacking French
patrols which were coming into the sun, crossing again into German-held
territory on the northern side.
Here Buckley gained experience rapidly and without question would have
made a splendid record at the Front. Unfortunately, he was shot down five
weeks after his arrival there and fell far within the German lines. Two months
later news came that he was a prisoner, but what had actually happened to
him was not known until July, 191 8, when he escaped into Switzerland. His
adventures in Germany were briefly as follows:
In the combat of September 6, 1917, his plane was badly damaged by
bullets and he fell out of control at Dun-sur-Meuse. He was knocked uncon-
scious in the crash, and upon coming to, found himself surrounded by
German infantrymen.
After eighteen days of bread-and-water diet in a fortress, he was sent
to the notorious Karlsruhe "Hotel" for the usual sojourn, while being in-
terrogated by German intelligence officers. He was then sent to a prison
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EVERETT T. BUCKLEY
camp at Heuberg, and escaped two months later, by breaking through the
fence.
Caught at the Swiss frontier, he was escorted back to Heuberg and then
sent to Donaueschingen to work on
a farm. Two days later he escaped
while at work in the fields, and was
recaptured while trying to cross the
Danube. Back he went (under con-
siderable compulsion) to Heuberg.
The hopeful enemy, after giving
him time for reflection in solitary
confinement, tried farming him out
again, sending him this time to War-
ingenstadt. Here he worked very
hard — the first night, with seven
other prisoners. They cut the bars
out of a window and were well away
from the neighborhood before day-
break. All were recaptured and re-
turned to Heuberg. Solitary confine-
ment for thirty-one days as before.
The fourth attempt was success-
ful. While working in a field cutting
hay, Buckley and a French prisoner
made a last break for freedom. They
were immediately pursued by a crowd
of German farmers, but eluded them
j n n^ 1. x EVERETT BUCKLEY IN HIS GERMAN
in a wood. Fronting by former ex- prison garb
periences in approaching the frontier,
they dodged the three lines of German sentries and continued walking until
certain that they were well beyond the last posts. Two Swiss musicians first
gave them the news of their safety, and directed them to the military police,
who sent them on to Berne and Paris.
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SERVICE RECORD
Thomas B. Buffum, New York City.
Preyious Service: American Ambulance, 19 17.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 15, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 27, 191 7, to March 20,
1918, Avord, Pau, Cazeaui,
G.D.E.
Breveted: October 31, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 77, March 24 to
May 4, 191 8.
Fined Rank: Caporal.
Shot down in combat: May 4, 1918, east of Mont-
did ier.
Prisoner in Germany: Until the Armistice.
c
THOMAS B. BUFFUM
ONG before our declaration of
war, Buifum was serving with
distinction in Macedonia,
driving an ambulance under the most
difficult and trying circumstances.
On June 15, 1917, he enlisted in the
Lafayette Flying Corps and made a
brilliant record both at Avord and at
Pau. Arriving at the G.D.E. at a time when squadron assignments were
made with exceptional slowness, Buifum did not get to the Front until
March 24, 191 8, when he joined the Escadrille Spad 77. His first flights con-
vinced his superiors that he was a young pilot of great promise, as all his
friends had long believed, but less than three weeks later he was shot down
in flames behind the enemy lines. In the Lafayette Corps Buffum's frank
and manly character had made him extremely popular, and all along the
lines, as the news spread, isolated groups of Americans mourned him for
dead. Some time later the news came from Switzerland that he had escaped
with his life and was a prisoner, unharmed. In company with several fellow
prisoners he escaped from Trausnitz Castle at Landshut, Bavaria. After
fourteen nights of tramping they were recaptured at the Austrian border.
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SERVICE RECORD
Eugene Bullard, Columbus, Georgia.
Previous Service: 191 5-16, Foreign Legion (In-
fantry).
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: November 15, 1916.
Aviation Schools: November 30, 19 16, to August
20, 191 7, Cazeaux, Tours,
Avord, G.D.E.
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 93, August 27 to
September 13, 1917.
Escadrille Spad 85, September 13
to November 11, 1917.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Returned to duty with 170th (French) Infan-
try Regiment, January n, 1918.
Decorations :
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
EUGENE BULLARD
THE writer will never forget
one occasion when he was
waiting at 23 avenue du Bois
to see Dr. Gros. Suddenly the door
opened to admit a vision of military
splendor such as one does not see twice in a lifetime. It was Eugene Bullard.
His jolly black face shone with a grin of greeting and justifiable vanity.
He wore a pair of tan aviator's boots which gleamed with a mirror-like luster,
and above them his breeches smote the eye with a dash of vivid scarlet. His
black tunic, excellently cut and set off by a fine figure, was decorated with a
pilot's badge, a Croix de Guerre, the fourragere of the Foreign Legion, and a
pair of enormous wings, which left no possible doubt, even at a distance of
fifty feet, as to which arm of the Service he adorned. The eleves-pilotes
gasped, the eyes of the neophytes stood out from their heads, and I re-
pressed a strong instinct to stand at attention.
There was scarcely an American at Avord who did not know and like
Bullard. He was a brave, loyal, and thoroughly likable fellow, and when a
quarrel with one of his superiors caused his withdrawal from the Aviation,
there was scarcely an American who did not regret the fact. He was sent to
the 170th French Infantry Regiment in January, 1918, from which date all
trace of him has been lost.
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SERVICE RECORD
William Graham Bullen, Chicago, Illinois.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 14, 1917.
Aviation Schools: July 27, 1917, to March 10,
19 1 8, Avord, Juvisy, Pau,
G.D.E.
Breveted: September 29, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille N. 162, March 13 to
April 17, 191 8.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Naval Aviation:
Commissioned Ensign: November 3, 1918.
WILLIAM GRAHAM BULLEN
GAY BULLEN is one of the men who have helped particularly to
make and maintain good feeling between Americans and French.
Speaking the language fluently, he understood the customs and
manners of our Allies, all of whose good points he appreciated. In his Squad-
ron Spad 162, he was immensely popular both with officers and pilots, as he
was a keen and aggressive man in the air and a particularly pleasant comrade
in mess or billets. Wherever he went, Bullen carried with him an excellent
library of French and English books, and on returning from a patrol, one
found him in the bar, absorbing the poetry of Meredith or something equally
literary. In the air he had his full share of excitement, as on one occasion,
when a German anti-aircraft battery registered a hit on him and forced him
to come down slightly wounded.
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SERVICE RECORD
Philip N. Bush, Schenectady, New York.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 9, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: May 23, 19 17, to January 13,
1918, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 3, 19 17 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 73, January 19 to
May 2, 1918.
Final Rank: Set gent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: May 8, 191 8.
At the Front: Attached to his former French
Squadron Spad 73, May 8 to
July 2i, 1918.
On duty at Paris, Choisy-le-Roy and American
Acceptance Park, Orly, July 22, 1918, to
Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
PHILIP N. BUSH
UNLIKE those of us who imitated the poilu in dress and manner, Bush
strove to live up to the midinette* s idea of an aviator; none of his con-
temporaries at Avord will forget his spotless and natty uniforms, his
superb boots — his general air of military smartness. We often suspected that
his presence in our ranks saved us from many a menial task; it was unthink-
able that one with the presence of a small field-marshal should pick up stones,
build gasoline tanks, or push tired Bleriots back to their roosting-places.
Despite his air of casual elegance, Bush piloted a Bleriot with the best —
his landings were faultless; he had an easy, daring style which showed the
natural flyer. At Pau, too, he went through the acrobatics as though he had
done them all his life, and without outward sign of the slight preliminary
trepidations usual on such occasions. On January 19, 1918, he reached the
Front, assigned to the Escadrille Spad 73. In May he was commissioned a
First Lieutenant in the Air Service, and had the pleasure of being returned to
his French squadron, fighting with it through some of the bitterest actions of.
the war.
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SERVICE RECORD
Louis Leslie Byers, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 13, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 27, 1917, to July 10, 1918,
Avord, Pau, Cazeaux, G.D.E.
Breveted: December 5, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 38, July 13 to
July 18, 1918.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Taken prisoner near Marquises: July 18, 191 8.
Prisoner of war until the Armistice.
LOUIS LESLIE BYERS
BYERS showed a fine determination in going in for flying, for he real-
ized that he was much handicapped by defective eyesight. In spite
of this he did well at Avord, at Pau, and at Cazeaux. On July 13, 1918,
he was assigned to the Escadrille Spad 38, and five days later, in the region
of Marquises, was taken prisoner by the Germans. A long and tiresome
training, five days of life at the Front, and four months of particularly hard
imprisonment in Germany: that is Byers's experience of the war.
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SERVICE RECORD
Andrew Courtney Campbell, Jr., Chicago,
Illinois.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 20, 1916.
Aviation Schools: September 8, 1916, to April 10,
1917, Buc, Juvisy, Avord,
Cazeaux, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted'. November 22, 1916 (Caudron).
At the front: Escadrille Lafayette, April 15 to
October 1, 191 7.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Killed in combat: October 1, 191 7, north of Sois-
sons.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre^ with Star.
CITATION
Lc Chef d'Escadron, Chef du Service Aero-
nautique au G.Q.G., cite a POrdre de
PAeronautique:
Campbell, Andrew Courtney, Sergent
Pilote a PEscadrille N. 124
Citoyen americain engage au service de la
France. Pilote plein d'audace ayant deja livre
plusieurs combats avec une fougue admirable.
Le 7 juillet, 191 7, a perdu complement un des plans de son avion a 1800 m. d'altitu de. Par
son sang-froid et son adresse, s'est retabli dans la chute et a reussi a atterrir indemne.
ANDREW COURTNEY CAMPBELL
ONE of the most remarkable accidents in the history of French avia-
tion happened to Courtney Campbell during his service with the
Escadrille Lafayette. While a patrol was assembling over the aero-
drome at Chaudun, on the Aisne sector, he lost completely a lower wing of
his Nieuport, brought the machine to the ground, and landed it beautifully.
Theoretically the thing could n't be done, but owing to great presence of
mind and a most fantastic bit of luck, Courtney did it.
Throughout his period of service at the Front, his adventures were of a
piece with this experience in landing a three-winged Nieuport. They were
always richly humorous, beyond those of any other pilot, because of his rare
gift at making them so in the narration. He was a born jester, a jester in the
Shakespearean sense. Sometimes, after a hard and disappointing day, when
dinner at the popote was passing glumly — Tiffin and Percy tiptoeing around
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COURTNEY CAMPBELL
the tables, serving with painfully obvious attempt at silence lest they should
jar some one's already jangled nerves — Courtney would shatter the gloom
with one of his ridiculous comments. Then he would look around the table
with a quizzical smile; and if he did n't get a "rise," he would go serenely
on until he jolted us out of a sullen mood, forced us to grin against our wills.
" Darn you, Campbell ! Shut up, will you ? " — some one would shout, through
clenched teeth. He rode his jests as he rode his old Nieuport. He would pique^
CAMPBELL WITH HIS THREE-WING NIEUPORT
a la verticale on a metaphor, zoom up after a play on words, get "under the
tail" of some stale old joke, and bring it triumphantly down, flaming with
new absurdity.
Many a time we swore at Courtney openly, while secretly thanking the
good lord of wits who sent him to N. 124. And we admired him as a pilot,
for, despite his furious fun at his own expense, he never failed a comrade in
combat, and was a skillful and courageous fighter. He was shot down within
the enemy lines, on October 1, 1917, and so ended a complete, useful, and
happy career.
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SERVICE RECORD
H. Gordon Campbell, Denver, Colorado.
Previous Service: Norton-Harjes Ambulance,
1916-17.
Service in French Aviation:
* Date of enlistment: June 27, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: July 24, 1917, to January, 1918,
Avord, Pau, Cazeaux, G.D.E.
Breveted: December 3, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille de Saint-Pol, Dunkirk.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Naval Aviation:
Commissioned Ensign.
At the Front: Attached to the French Escadrille
de Saint-Pol.
Decorations:
Legion d'Honneur.
Croix de Guerre, with Two Palms.
H. GORDON CAMPBELL
CAMPBELL is one of the many Lafayette men who transferred to
aviation from Ambulance work. After an honorable term of service
with Section 5 of the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps, he was ac-
cepted in June, 191 7 — and sent to Avord on July 24.
His record in the schools was excellent, for he is the type that flies natu-
rally — young, alert, and fearless. Before going to the Front with the French,
he was transferred to the U.S. Navy and was fortunate enough, as an Ensign,
to be attached to the Escadrille of Saint- Pol, where he gave a fine account of
himself, and was cited for bringing down a German plane. Unfortunately no
details of his adventures are available.
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SERVICE RECORD
Thomas G. Cassady, Spencer, Indiana.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 10, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: August 3 to December 24,
19 1 7, Avord, Tours, Pau,
G.D.E.
Breveted: October 6, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 157, December 26,
1917, to February 16, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: February 22,
1918.
Promoted Captain March 13, 1919.
At the Front: Attached to French Squadron
Spad 163, May 14 to Sep-
tember 8, 19 1 8.
28th Pursuit Squadron, Septem-
ber 8, 191 8, to Armistice.
Decorations:
Distinguished Service Cross, with Bronze Oak
Leaf.
Legion d*Honneur.
Croix de Guerre, with three Palms and one Star.
CITATIONS
Groupe de Combat 21 23 juin y 191 8
Le General Commandant la IV C Armee cite a l'ordre de P Armee:
Lieutenant Cassady, Thomas G., de PEscadrille Spad 163
Premier Lieutenant de PArmee Americaine venu sur sa demande dans PAviation Fran-
caise. Toujours volontaire pour les missions dangereuses. A, le 28 mai en tete de sa patrouille,
abattu un avion ennemi.
Le General Commandant IV* Armee
(Signe) Gouraud
L' Armee de l'Est, £tat-Major. Au G.Q.G., Ordre N° 12,780
Le General Commandant PArmees de l'Est cite a POrdre de PArmee:
Lt. Cassady, Thomas G., de PEscadrille Spa. 163
Officier d'un esprit remarquable. Toujours volontaire pour les missions perilleuses. Le
II aout, 1918, il a abattu un avion ennemi qui est tombe dans les lignes Allemands.
Par ordre de la General Commandant
(Signe) Breat
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THOMAS G. CASSADY
Grand Quartier General des Armees
du Nord et du Nord-Est, £tat-Major. 30 octobre, 1 91 8
Le General Commandant en Chef les Armees Fran^aises du Nord et du Nord-Est, cite a
TOrdre de l'Armee:
Cassady, Thomas, Lieutenant Pilote a PEscadrille Spa. 163
Merveilleux pilote de chasse. A fait preuve d'un courage et d'un entrain inlassables. A la
tete de sa patrouille le . . . a abattu un monoplace ennemi.
Le General Commandant en Chef
(Signe) Petain
7 November, 191 8
The Commander-in-Chief, in the name of the President, has awarded the Distinguished
Service Cross to the following named officer for the act of extraordinary heroism described
after his name:
First Lieutenant Thomas G. Cassady, A.S., U.S.A., Flight Commander,
28th Aero Squadron N° 1022
For extraordinary heroism in action near Fismes, 29 May, 191 8, and near £pieds, France,
5 June, 1918.
On 29 May, 191 8, Lieutenant Cassady, single-handed, attacked an L.V.G. German plane,
which crashed near Fismes. On 5 June, 191 8, as patrol leader of five Spads, while being at-
tacked by twelve German Fokkers, he brought down one of the enemy planes near fipieds
and by his dash and courage broke the enemy formation.
A Bronze Leaf
For the following act of extraordinary heroism:
On 15 August, 191 8, near Saint-Maire, while acting as protection for a Salmson, he was at-
tacked by seven Fokkers, two of which he brought down and enabled the Salmson to accom-
plish its mission and return safely.
AiRONAUTlQUE MlLITAIRES, G.C. 21. EsCADRILLE SPA. 1 63
Proposition pour la L£gion d'Honneur pour le Lieutenant Cacsady, Thomas
i er Lieutenant de l'Armee Americaine
Venu servir la France au moment ou aucune obligation militaire ne Py contraignait.
Objet dans une Section Sanitaire (Tune brillante citation et grievement blesse.
Passe depuis dans PAviation; s'y est impose a tour par Pelevation de son caractere, ses
qualites de pilote, son insouciance absolue du danger.
Vainqueur officiel de cinq avions ennemis.
Le Lieutenant Commandant d J Escadrille
(Signe) Claude Ch£reau
(Note. Lieutenant Casaady was awarded the Legion of Honor, his Citation having the text of the above proposition.)
THOMAS G. CASSADY
CASSADY, with Larner and Ponder, was attached to Group* de Com-
bat 21, where the three Americans upheld splendidly the finest tra-
ditions of our army. He served with the N. 157 during January,
1918, was transferred to the American army, and on May 14, 1918, returned
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THOMAS G. CASSADY
to the Front to the Escadrille Spad 163, with which he served until Septem-
ber 8, 1 91 8. From that time until the Armistice he was with the 28th Pur-
suit Squadron.
Cassady has shot down and had confirmed nine enemy planes, three of
which have fallen in our lines, a rare satisfaction to the victor.
His good fellowship won the liking of the French, as his skill and courage
won their respect, and he has done more than his share to promote good feel-
ing with our Allies. In addition to a Croix de Guerre with three palms, Cas-
sady has been decorated with the D.S.C., and on leaving the Escadrille,
Captain Villeneuve proposed him for the Legion of Honor, the highest com-
pliment the French can pay an American officer. The award was approved by
the French military authorities, and the American General Headquarters,
and the decoration conferred after the Armistice. Cassady's record from
beginning to end has been a splendid one and is a matter for pride to all the
members of the Lafayette Corps.
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SERVICE RECORD
Oliver M. Chadwick, Lowell, Massachusetts.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: January 17, 1917.
Aviation Schools: January 23 to July 25, 1917,
Buc, Avord, Cazeaux, Pau,
G.D.E.
Breveted: May 4, 19 17 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 73, July 28 to
August 14, 1917.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Killed in combat: North of Bixschoote, August
14, 1917.
OLIVER M. CHADWICK
OLIVER CHADWICK was
one of the last of the 191 6
volunteers who began Ble-
riot training at Buc shortly before
that school was removed to Avord.
It was strange how quickly his in-
fluence made itself felt in Lafayette
affairs, and yet not strange either, to
those who knew him, or who came to
know him afterward. He took up his
work with an intensity of purpose which had a wholesome effect upon all
of his comrades and raised to a high level the general standard of flying
efficiency.
He went to the Front with Charles Biddle in July, 191 7. Three weeks
later while flying alone, he encountered a British Sopwith which was being
badly handled by an Albatross. Although there were two other Albatross
hovering high above the scene of the combat, he attacked the German at
once, saved the British plane, but was in turn attacked by the higher ma-
chines as he must have foreseen that he would be. In the unequal contest
which followed, and before the British pilot in his slower avion could come
to his aid, he was shot down and fell just in front of the enemy trenches near
Bixschoote. The following account of Chadwick's death is taken from a letter
written at the time, by Charles Biddle. His estimate of his worth as a man
and as a pilot is held by every member of the Lafayette Corps who knew
Chadwick.
"The next morning, August 14 (1917), Oliver and I were not scheduled to
fly until the afternoon, but as we were both anxious to get all the practice
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OLIVER M. CHADWICK
possible, we went to the field in the morning in the hope that they might
need an extra man. A patrol was just going out, and being short one man
they asked Oliver to fill up. I saw him off and was a little disappointed that
he had gotten the job instead of myself, as he had already had an hour or
two more over the lines than I. He went out with three Frenchmen and
never came back. They reported that at about 9.45, shortly after they had
reached the lines, they had lost track of Oliver while maneuvering near some
clouds. Shortly after lunch we re-
ceived a telephone message, that the
infantry had seen a machine of the
type Oliver was flying shot down in
the course of a combat from about
2000 meters and fall about 1200 me-
ters north of Bixschoote at a place
known as the 'Ferme Carnot.' Ac-
cording to the report, the French
machine went to the assistance of
an English one that was being at-
tacked by a Boche, and at the same
time was itself attacked from the
rear by two other Boches. The
French machine was nettement de-
sccndu, as they say, and took a sheer
fall of over 6000 feet, until it crashed
into the ground.
"I had hoped against hope that
there might be some mistake; that
the machine was merely forced to
land, or perhaps that it was not
Oliver's machine at all, or that he
might be only a prisoner. I have
chadwick at avord been doing everything I could think
of to get all the detailed information
possible, as it will mean so much to his family to know just what happened
and whether or not he is really dead. The commander has been very kind
in trying to help me to collect this information, but it has seemed almost
impossible to trace what clues we have. Where so many thousands are being
killed and have been for the past three years, a dead man, no longer able
to help in the fight, is nothing, and men busy with the great business of
war have no time to spend in trying to find one.
"Oliver fell between the lines, but very close to the German. The recent
French advance has, however, put the spot just within our own lines, and I
wanted to go up myself and have a look, but it seems impossible. I thought
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OLIVER M. CHADWICK
perhaps I might be able to find his body or the machine or something. Even
though I could not do this, my efforts seem to be bearing fruit, and there
seems to be no longer any doubt that the machine was his.
"To-day I received a photograph of the machine taken by a priest at-
tached to the infantry and also some details of what happened when the
machine fell. It seems that both the Boche and French soldiers rushed out of
their trenches to try and get possession of it, and a fight followed in which
both were forced to retire. The picture was taken after the advance a day or
so later and shows a tangled mass of wreckage and beside it the dead body
of a Boche. No trace could be found of Oliver's body, but this is easily ex-
plained by the fact that pilots often have papers on them of military im-
portance, and his body would therefore have been taken and searched. This
would have been easy for the Germans to do at night, as the machine was
so close to their front-line trenches. I am now trying to get the number of
the fallen machine and to find some one who actually saw it fall. I think then
we shall have everything. What chance has a man who falls like that from
such a height? I have seen the result of a fall of one tenth the distance or
less, too often not to know. I have a large-scale map showing the spot where
he fell. It will, of course, always be impossible to find out where he is buried.
"I wish you could have known Oliver Chadwick, as I am sure he would
have appealed to you as he did to me. He was the kind of a man that it takes
generations to make and then you only get them once in a thousand times.
A man with a great deal of brains, he was also a very hard worker and had
learned much about aviation and had made himself the best pilot I have ever
seen for one of his experience. He was one of the very few I have met over
here who came over long before America entered the war, simply because he
felt it was his duty to fight for what he knew was right. That was why he
was fighting and what he was fully prepared to die for. His ideals were of the
highest and he was morally the cleanest man I have ever known. Physically
he had always been a splendid athlete and was a particularly fine specimen.
Absolutely fearless and using his brains every minute, if he had only had a
chance to really get started and to gain a little experience, he should have
developed into the best of them all. The Boche that got him certainly did a
good job from their point of view, for if he had lived long enough to become
really proficient, they would have known it to their sorrow, and I doubt if
they would ever have gotten him.
"We were in the Law School together, but I never saw much of him there,
as we lived far apart and had a different set of friends. Since I came over
here, however, and went to the aviation schools, we had been almost con-
stantly together. We had lived together, eaten together, flown together, and
planned all our work together. Always a gentleman and thinking of the
other fellow, he was the most congenial man to me that I had ever known.
I had come to regard him as my best friend, and it is astonishing how well
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OLIVER M. CHADWICK
you can get to know one with whom you work in this business, whom you
often rely on for your life and who you know relies on you in the same way.
There is nothing I would not have done for Oliver Chadwick and I know he
would have done the same for me. He was the finest man of his age that it
has ever been my good fortune to meet and was my idea of what a gentleman
should be. I am very glad to have known him, and I think it did me a great
deal of good. When a man of this rare stamp goes down almost unnoticed,
it seems, it makes one appreciate what this war means. To me, personally,
his death naturally leaves a pretty big hole, but I am glad that if he had to
die, he died fighting, as he wanted to. I know he himself never expected to
survive the war, but his
only fear was that he
might be killed in some
miserable accident.
" He was a great favor-
ite with all the instructors,
both because of his ami-
ability and because they
could not help but ad-
mire his skill and his fear-
lessness. The Commander
here regarded him as one
of the most courageous
men he had ever had,
chadwicks grave in flandeks which is saying a great
deal in this organization.
"One of the officers tried to tell me that Oliver should not have left his
patrol and gone to help out the other machine. I think he did exactly what
he should have done. He could not well stand by when he saw a comrade in
trouble and leave him to shift for himself. What one admires in a man more
than anything else is the doing of his duty regardless of the consequences to
himself, and this was Oliver all over. As soon as I heard what had happened
I felt sure that it was he. My great regret is that I could not have been on
the same patrol, as we usually stuck pretty close together and might have
been able to help one another out."
Chadwick died as he would have wished, in the French service. At the
time, when many of us were dreaming of commissions in the American avia-
tion, he had written to Major Gros:
" I wish to associate myself as closely as possible with the cause of France,
for I feel that a few Americans scattered here and there among the French
escadrilles can do a greater service to the United States than if all were to-
gether; but with General Pershing already here I am well aware that condi-
tions may be different from the past. Therefore I wish to let you know of
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OLIVER M. CHADWICK
my inclinations before acting upon them, and should welcome any advice
which you may choose to give. I am more interested in getting into the fight
where I can be of service, than in advancement under either of the flags
which it has been my privilege to serve."
He was killed less than two months after this letter was written. His body
lies in French soil which was the scene of some of the heaviest fighting of
the war.
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SERVICE RECORD
Cyrus F. Chamberlain, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 3, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 6 to December 8, 1917, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 15, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 85, December 12, 1917, to January 9, 1918.
Escadrille Spad 98, January 9 to June 13, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Killed in combat: Near La Ferte-Milon (Aisne), June 13, 1918.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATION
Le 29 juin, 1918
VP ArmSe, Aeronautique
Citation a YOrdre de VArmee:
Chamberlain, Cyrus, Sergent Pilote a PEscadrille Spa. 98
Sujet americain engage dans PArmee Francaise. Soldat modeste et brave. Pilote de chasse
de tout premier ordre, a ete tue dans un combat aerien livre contre un ennemi superieur en
hombre.
Le General Commandant la Vl e Armee
Degoutte
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CYRUS F. CHAMBERLAIN
CHAMBERLAIN was older than most of his contemporaries at
Avord, and had seen more of the world. His intelligence and sense
of humor made him a delightful companion when he chose to talk;
none of his friends will forget the pleasant evenings at the Cafe des Avia-
teurs, where he dined nightly in company with Booth, Forster, and Fer-
guson. His chief interest at that time, of course, was flying, but he was a
man of many hobbies — shooting, fishing, music, literature. . . . Sometimes,
when a dense brouillard shrouded the Bleriot field, and we sat dismally in
the lee of a hangar, waiting for the sun, he carried us far away from our sur-
roundings with his tales of canoe trips into the wilderness north of Lake
Superior. He loved every mood of Nature, and could make one feel the
CHAMBERLAIN AND AMERICANS' ROOM AT AVORD
solemn hush of the forest, or the thrill of a rush down roaring and uncharted
rapids. A very few of his friends — for he was almost furtive in doing good —
knew of his frequent unostentatious acts of kindness to needy or unfortunate
comrades, both at Avord and at the Front.
Possessing the curious combination of caution and recklessness which
makes a pilot of the first order, Chamberlain proved that in his case age was
no handicap; he flew with a sure and delicate touch, went through the
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CYRUS F. CHAMBERLAIN
schools without a crash, and on the Front gave promise of a future of ex-
ceptional brilliancy. When the Germans drove south from the Chemin des
Dames, his squadron was sent to oppose the formidable enemy aviation.
The morning of June 13, 1918, found a patrol of Spads weaving back and
forth above the lines at La Ferte-Milon — Chamberlain with five French
comrades on the lookout for Boches. It was ten o'clock: a warm summer
forenoon with the sky almost cloudless. The Spads were at 12,000 feet. Sud-
denly, a thousand meters below, appeared a small patrol of German ma-
chines. All dove to the attack, and the French leader, glancing behind him
as he rushed downward, saw a dozen enemy single-seaters plunging from
above. A quick turn, a faint rattle of machine guns, and one Spad continued
its dive — on and down, a fading dot above the battle-field. It was Cham-
berlain, killed in his seat by an unlucky burst. In our memories, he will live
forever in the simple words of his citation to the order of the army: "Soldat
mode ste et brave"
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SERVICE RECORD
Charles W. Chapman, Jr., Waterloo, Iowa.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 10, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 16, 191 7, to February,
1918, Avord, Pau, Cazeaux,
G.D.E.
Breveted: October 30, 19 17 (Caudron).
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant: February
21, 1918.
At the Front: 94th Pursuit Squadron, March 3
to May 3, 1918.
Killed in combat: (Toul Sector) May 3, 191 8.
Decorations:
Distinguished Service Cross.
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATIONS
G.H.Q., A.E.F.
On May 3, 191 8, in the region of Autre-
pierre, France, while on patrol duty, he
courageously attacked a group of four mono-
planes and one biplane and succeeded in
bringing one down before he himself was
shot down in flames.
By Command of General Pershing
Sous-Lieutenant Chapman, Charles Wesley, Pilote Escadrille Americaine N° 94
Glorieusement tombe au cours d'un combat contre un groupe ennemi apres avoir abattu un
de ses adversaires en flammes.
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CHARLES W. CHAPMAN, Jr.
THOSE of us who were with Chapman at Pau will always remember
an incident that threw light on the determination concealed beneath
his modesty and reserve of manner. It was in the acrobatics class,
when man after man was sent up alone in the 13-meter Nieuport to do his
first spins and aerial summersaults. At last, Chapman's turn came, and up
he went to spin and flip with the best of us — but when he landed those who
gathered around the machine noticed that his face was white and that he
staggered as he walked. That evening he told us — the first spin had made
him deathly ill, his head swam, and the sky went black before his eyes. In
this condition, expecting every moment to faint, he had finished with honors
the full course of acrobatic flying. We urged him to apply for two-seater
work where trick flying is not required, but he persevered and soon over-
came his attacks of faintness. On the 3d of May, 1918, near Autrepierre in
Lorraine, Chapman died as he had lived, cleanly and gamely fighting till he
was shot down within the enemy lines.
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SERVICE RECORD
Victor Chapman, New York City.
Previous Service: August, 1914, to August, 1915
Foreign Legion (Infantry).
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: August 1, 191 5.
Esc. V.B. 108 (Mitrailleur), August 10 to
September 22, 19 15.
Aviation Schools: September 26, 1915, to April
17, 1916, Avord, Reserve
General Aeronautique.
Breveted: January 9, 1916 (Maurice Farman)
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette, April 20 to
June 23, 1917.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Wounded in combat: June 17, 191 6.
Killed in combat: Northeast of Douaumont
(Verdun Sector), June 23, 191 6.
Decorations :
Medaille Militaire.
Croix de Guerre, with two Palms.
CITATIONS
October 7, 1916
Citation a VOrdre de VArmee :
Chapman, Victor, Sergent Pilote
a l'Escadrille 124
Pilote de chasse qui etait un modele d'audace, d'energie et entrain, et faisait Padmira-
tion de ses camarades d'escadrille. Serieusement blesse a la tete le 17 juin, a demande a ne pas
interrompre son service. Quelque jours plus tard s'etant lance a l'attaque de plusieurs avions
cnnemis, a trouve une mort glorieuse au cours de la lutte.
Citation a VOrdre de VArmee :
Chapman, Victor, Caporal Pilote a l'Escadrille 124
Citoyen americain, engage pour la duree de la guerre. Pilote remarquable par son audace
s'elancant sur les avions ennemis quelqu'en soit le nombre, et quelque soit Paltitude. Le
24 mai, a attaque seul trois avions allemands; a livre un combat au cours duquel il a eu ses
vetements traverses de plusieurs balles et a ete blesse au bras.
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VICTOR CHAPMAN
O finer obituary of Victor Chapman could be written than the
following letter from Kiffin Rockwell to Mrs. John Jay Chapman:
Escadrille N. 124, Secteur 24
August 10, 1916
My dear Mrs. Chapman,
I received your letter this morning. I feel mortified that you have had to
write me without my having written you before, when Victor was the best
friend I ever had. I wanted to write you and his father at once, and tried to
a number of times. But I found it impossible to write full justice to Victor
or to really express my sympathy with you. Everything I would try to say
seemed so weak. So I finally said: "I will just go ahead and work hard, do
my best, then if I have accomplished a lot or have been killed in accomplish-
ing it, they will know that I had not forgotten Victor, and that some of his
strength of character still lived."
There is nothing that I can say to you or any one that will do full credit
to him. And every one here that knew him feels the same way. To start
with, Victor had such a strong character. I think we all have our ideals,
when we begin, but unfortunately there are so very few of us that retain
them; and sometimes we lose them at a very early age, and after that, life
seems to be spoiled. But Victor was one of the very few who had the strongest
of ideals, and then had the character to withstand anything that tried to
come into his life and kill them. He was just a large, healthy man, full of
life and goodness toward life, and could only see the fine, true points in life
and in other people. And he was not of the kind that absorbs from other
people, but of the kind that gives out. We all had felt his influence and seeing
in him a man, made us feel a little more like trying to be men ourselves.
When I am in Paris, I stay with Mrs. Weeks, whose son was my friend
and killed in the Legion. Well, Victor would come around once in a while to
dinner with us. Mrs. Weeks used always to say to me: "Bring Victor around,
he does me so much good. I like his laugh and the sound of his voice. When
he comes into the room it always seems so much brighter." Well, that is the
way it was here in the escadrille.
For work in the escadrille, Victor worked hard, always wanting to fly.
And courage! he was too courageous; we all would beg him at times to slow
up a little. We speak of him every day here, and we have said sincerely
amongst ourselves many a time that Victor had more courage than all the
rest of the escadrille combined. He would attack the Germans always, no
matter what the conditions or what the odds. The day he was wounded
four or five of the escadrille had been out and come home at the regular hour.
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VICTOR CHAPMAN
Well, Victor had attacked one machine and seriously crippled it, but the
machine had succeeded in regaining the German lines. After that, Victor
would not come home with the rest, but stayed looking for another machine.
He found five machines inside our lines. None of us like to see a German
THE ESCADRILLE LAFAYETTE AT LUXEUIL, MAY. 1916
within our lines, without attacking. So, although Victor was alone, he
watched the five and finally one of them came lower and under him. He
immediately dived on this one. Result was that the others dived on him.
One of them was a Fokker, painted like the machine of the famous Captain
Boelke and may have been him. This Fokker got the position on Victor, and
it was a miracle that he was not killed then. He placed bullet after bullet
around Victor's head, badly damaging the machine, cutting parts of the
commands in two, and one bullet cutting his scalp, as you know. Well, Vic-
tor got away, and with one hand held the commands together where they
had been cut and landed at Froids where We had friends in a French esca-
drille. There he had dinner and his Wound was dressed, and they repaired
his machine a little. That afternoon he came flying home with his head all
bound up. Yet he thought nothing of it; only smiled and considered it an
interesting event. He immediately wanted to continue his work as if nothing
had happened. We tried to get him to a hospital, or to go to Paris for a short
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VICTOR CHAPMAN
while, and rest; but he said "No." Then we said: "Well, you have got to
take a rest even if you stay here." The Captain told him that he would de-
mand a new and better machine for him, and that he could rest while waiting
for it to be ready, and then could see whether or not he should go back to
flying. This was the 17th of June.
The following morning Balsley was wounded. The same day or the day
after, Uncle Willie came to see Victor and was with us a couple of days.
Those first days Victor slept late, a privilege he had not taken before since
being in the escadrille, always having gotten up at daylight. In the daytime
he would be with Uncle Willie, or at the field, seeing about his new machine,
or he would take his old one and fly over to see Clyde Balsley. At first Balsley
could not eat or drink anything. But after a few days he was allowed a little
champagne and oranges. Well, as soon as Victor found that out, he arranged
for champagne to be sent to Balsley, and would take oranges over to him.
At least once a day, and sometimes twice, he would go over to see Balsley to
cheer him up. And in the meantime he would n't ever let any one speak of
his wound as a wound, and was impatient for his new machine. On the 21st
he got his Nieuport and had it regulated. On the 22d he regulated the mitrail-
leuse^ and the weather being too bad to fly over the lines, he flew it around
here a little to get used to it. His head was still bandaged, but he said it was
nothing. Late in the afternoon some Germans were signaled and he went up
with the rest of us to look for them, but it was a false alarm.
The following morning the weather was good, and he insisted on going
out at the regular hour with the rest. There were no enemy planes over the
lines, so the sortie was uneventful. He came in, and at lunch fixed up a basket
of oranges which he said he would take to Balsley. We went up to the field,
and Captain Thenault, Prince, and Lufbery got ready to go out on patrol.
Victor put the oranges in his machine and said that he would follow the
others over the lines for a little trip and then go and land at the hospital.
The Captain, Prince, and Lufbery started first. On arriving at the lines they
saw the first two German machines, which they dived on. When they ar-
rived in the midst of them, they found that two or three other German ma-
chines had arrived also. As the odds were against the three, they did not
fight long, but immediately started back into our lines and without seeing
Victor. When they came back we thought that Victor was at the hospital.
But later in the afternoon a pilote of a Maurice Farman and his passenger
sent in a report. The report was that they saw three Nieuports attack five
German machines, and at this moment they saw a fourth Nieuport arriving
with all speed who dived in the midst of the Germans, that two of the Ger-
mans dived toward their field, and that the Nieuport fell through the air no
longer controlled by the pilote. In a fight, it is practically impossible to tell
what the other machines do, as everything happens so fast, and all one can
see is the beginning of a fight and then, in a few seconds, the end. That fourth
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VICTOR CHAPMAN
Nieuport was Victor, and, owing to the fact that the motor was going full
speed when the machine fell, I think that he was killed instantly.
He died the most glorious death, and at the most glorious time of life to
die, especially for him, with his ideals. I have never once regretted it for him,
as I know he was willing and satisfied to give his life that way if it was neces-
sary, and that he had no fear of death. It is for you, his father, relatives,
myself, and for all who have known him, and all who would have known
him, and for the world as a whole, I regret his loss. Yet he is not dead; he
lives forever in every place he has been, and in every one who knew him,
and in the future generations little points of his character will be passed
along. He is alive every day in this escadrille and has a tremendous influence
on all our actions. Even the mecaniciens do their work better and more con-
scientiously. And a number of times I have seen Victor's mecanicien standing
(when there was no work to be done) and gazing off in the direction of where
he last saw Victor leaving for the lines.
For promotions and decorations things move slowly in the army, and
after it has passed through all the bureaux, it takes some time to get back to
you. Victor was proposed for Sergent and for the Croix de Guerre, May 24.
This passed through all the bureaux and was signed by the General, but the
papers did not arrive here until June 25. However, Victor knew on the 23d,
that they had passed, and that it was only a question of a day or so. He had
also been promised, after being wounded, the Medaille Militaire, which he
would have received some time in July. I wish that they could have sent
that to you, for he had gained it, and they would have given it to him. But
it is against the rules to give the Medaille Militaire unless everything has
been signed before the titulaire is killed.
I must close now. You must not feel sorry, but must feel proud and happy.
Kiffin Rockwell
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SERVICE RECORD
Louis Charton, New York City.
Previous Service: September 2, 1914, to Feb-
ruary 1, 1917, Foreign Legion (Infantry).
Wounded: July 10, 1916.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: February 20, 1917.
Aviation Schools: February 28 to August 20,
191 7, Chartres, Avord, Pau,
G.D.E.
Breveted: May 14, 191 7 (Farman).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 92, August 22 to
September 5, 191 7.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Prisoner in Germany: September 5, 1917, to
Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
CITATION
Division du Maroc,
2 e Brigade
8 e Regiment de March e de Zouaves
Citation a VOrdre du Regiment N° 347 du
24juillet, 1916:
Le Lieutenant Colonel Auroux, Comman-
dant le 8* Regiment de Marche de Zou-
aves, cite a TOrdre du Regiment:
Charton, Louis, M fe 38688
Soldat excellent, a montre un courage remarquable le 10 juillet, 1916. A ete blesse en
montant a Fassaut d'une tranchee ennemie.
(Sign*) Auroux
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LOUIS CHARTON
LOUIS CHARTON was born in France of French parents, although he
later became a naturalized American subject. At the time of the out-
-« break of the war he was living temporarily at Toul (Merthe-et-
Moselle). He immediately enlisted in the Second Regiment of the Foreign
Legion, and went into the trenches with his regiment on the 25th of Novem-
ber, 1914, near Craonne. The following account of his service was written by
a fellow Legionnaire who was with him during the campaigns of 1914-15-16.
" Louis, who was a quiet, modest little chap, had the heart of a lion. He had
the spiritual fire which makes the best type of French patriot so superb a sol-
dier. I remember one of our first nights in the trenches when the enemy at-
tacked five times between twilight and dawn. Each time they were repulsed.
Louis was one of five men holding a petit poste far in advance of the trenches,
and it was largely due to the courage of these men that the Germans were
unsuccessful in their assaults. On the 25th of September, 1915, the first day
of the Champagne offensive, he was one of a patrol of five men and a cor-
poral, all volunteers, who were selected to destroy or capture a nest of ma-
chine guns. They went out in broad daylight, captured four machine guns
and one hundred prisoners. On the Somme, in July, 1916, he was severely
wounded while marching at the head of his section to the assault of the
enemy trenches."
His career as an airman was unfortunately brief. Two weeks after his arrival
at Spad 92 he was shot down by anti-aircraft fire from the ground. His motor
was badly damaged which compelled him to land in enemy territory on the
Verdun sector. The following year he was interned in Switzerland because of
ill health, and from there wrote urgent letters to Major Gros asking that he
use all of his influence to effect his return to France:
" Je veux me venger des mis ere 5 que fai subi en captivite, ainsi que venger la
mort de mon frere. Je m'ennuie ici, d'etre inactif y tandis que tant de me 5 cama-
rades ont Vhonneur de chasser le Boche"
His wishes could not be realized, however, and it was not until the Armis-
tice was signed that he again returned to France.
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SERVICE RECORD
Herman Lincoln Chatkoff, Maplewood, Mas-
sachusetts.
Previous Service: August 24, 1914, to May 20,
1916, Foreign Legion (Infantry).
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 24, 19 16.
Aviation Schools: June 5, 1916, to April 20, 1917,
Buc, Chartres, Chateauroux,
G.D.E.
Breveted: September, 1916 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille C. 1 1, April 25 to June
I5» 1917.
Final Rank : Sergent.
Seriously injured in line of duty: June 15, 1917,
at Chaudun (Aisne).
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with two Stars.
CITATION
Q.G. le 15 juin, 1917
V e Armee, Etat-Major.
Le Colonel Belhague, Chef d'fitat-Major de
la V e Armee, cite a TOrdre du Regiment:
Chatkoff, Lincoln, Caporal Pilote a
l'Escadrille C. 11
A livre du 12 mai au 9 juin, 1917, plus de dix combats au cours desquels il a fait preuve de
grandes qualites de courage, d'adresse, et de sang-froid. Le 4 juin, a attaque successivement,
au cours d'un meme vol, deux groupes de trois et quatre avions ennemis. A eu son avion
atteint de six balles et de nombreux eclats d'obus.
Le Chef a"£tat-Afajor de la $ Armee
(Signe) Belhague
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HERMAN LINCOLN CHATKOFF
THE Americans who enlisted in the infantry of the French Foreign
Legion all remember H. Lincoln Chatkoff, for he was one of the
small group of "Yanks" who volunteered for service in August,
1 914, taking an active part in the first trench fighting of the Great War. He
transferred to French Aviation as a member of the Franco-American Corps
in May, 1916, and received his military brevet in the autumn. But while wait-
ing at the G.D.E. for assignment to a French squadron he became homesick
for the Legion, and for a visit with his old comrades there. The result was that
he asked for a two months' permission to be spent in trenches and billets with
his old regiment. Never, perhaps, in the history of the Legion had such an
unusual request been made, and it was granted! "Chat" went back to the
trenches, where he spent two months fighting cooties and Germans, the re-
newed experience, as he expressed it in a letter, "doing him a lot of good."
At the end of this so-called permission he was sent to a French reconnais-
sance squadron, C. 11, where he made an excellent record. On June 15, 1917,
he was seriously injured in a flying accident near Soissons, which incapaci-
tated him for further service.
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SERVICE RECORD
Roger Harvey Clapp, New York City.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 3, 19 17.
Aviation Schools: June 13, 19 17, to January 12,
1918, Avord, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 16, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Br. 120, January 15 to
February 28, 191 8.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: March 14, 191 8.
At the Front: Assigned to the French Squadron
Br. 120, March 30 to May 15,
1918.
96th Bombardment Squadron,
June 6 to July 6, 1918.
Killed in line of duty: July 6, 1918, at Amanty.
ROGER HARVEY CLAPP
C
I LAPP was a genuine charac-
ter of the old-fashioned Amer-
ican kind, full of shrewdness,
wit, ingenuity, and provincialism.
He always refused to make any at-
tempt to learn French, with the thoroughly American idea that all foreign-
ers should be obliged to learn English. It was one of our treats at Avord to
listen to a conversation between Clapp and his instructor, who was very fond
of him. Roger believed firmly that any Frenchman could understand Eng-
lish if spoken very slowly and loudly, and considered it almost an insult
when his carefully enunciated observations missed their mark. We never
quite understood how, but he always ended by making himself clear.
He was breveted on Caudron, took the G. 4 training, and went to the
Front as pilot of a Breguet. In Escadrille Br. 120 he earned a reputation for
absolute fearlessness, and after a term of exceptionally fine service with the
French, was transferred to the American army. On July 6, 1918, while flying
near Amanty, Clapp met with a fatal accident. His loss was a heavy one to
his comrades, as well as to the Air Service at large, for there were few Ameri-
cans who had had a broader experience of day-bombing.
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SERVICE RECORD
Caleb James Coatsworth, Jr., Buffalo, New
York.
Previous Service: Norton-Harjes Ambulance,
1916.
Service in French Aviation:
Date 0} enlistment: February 20, 1917.
Aviation Schools: February 24 to July 16, 191 7,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: April 25, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 80, July 18, 1917,
to March 20, 191 8.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Slightly wounded in combat: August 1 6, 191 7.
Service in U.S. Naval Aviation:
Commissioned Ensign: March 20, 191 8. Pro-
moted Lieut. Q.g.).
At the Front: U.S. Naval Air Station, Porto Cor-
sini, Italy, summer and autumn
of 191 8.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star (Ambulance).
CITATION
Au G.C., le 7 aout, 1916
2i e Division d'Infanterie, £tat-Major.
Le General Commandant la 2i e Division d'Infanterie cite a POrdre de la Division:
Caleb Coatsworth, Volontaire Americain de la Section Sanitaire
Automobile Americaine No. 7
Volontaire pour une mission perilleuse, s'en est acquitte avec un sang-froid remarquable,
sous un feu intense et continu. A donne, au cours de la campagne, de nombreuses preuves
de son mepris du danger et de son esprit de sacrifice.
Le General commandant la 2i c Division d'Infanterie
(Signe) Dauvin
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CALEB JAMES COATSWORTH
FROM the day of his arrival at the Front Coatsworth saw a good deal of
active service. On August 16, 1917, when still comparatively a novice,
he was sent on a "ground-strafing" patrol over the Verdun sector.
This is nerve-racking work even to the veteran pilot, the more so when heavy
fighting is in progress. The French were attacking, gaining back more of the
ground — called the most precious in France because of its cost in human
life — which they had lost to the enemy the preceding winter. Groupe de
AMERICAN PILOTS OF THE SPAD 80
Combat 14 was heavily engaged, and Coatsworth's squadron, Spad 80, had
the important task of machine-gunning German reserves which were packed
in the communication trenches. Great sport, of course, if one enjoys riding
in the wake of shells, bursting at the rate of about one hundred per minute,
and so close to the ground as to be the easy prey of all enemy chasse patrols
higher up. He saw for the first time a machine falling in flames, a bi-motor
Caudron, and had the satisfaction of knocking into a vrille the Albatross
which was attacking it. But the fun was fast and furious, a give-and-take
proposition, the usual thing in a "dog-fight." Two single-seaters attacked
him from above at this moment. A bullet struck his radiator, blinding him
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CALEB JAMES COATSWORTH
with water; another shattered his wind-shield; and still another struck his
ammunition-box. His life was very probably saved by the timely interven-
tion of another Spad which drove off the tenacious Germans. Coatsworth
managed to plane back to French territory, and then, just outside Verdun,
crashed his badly damaged Spad, "beautifully and most thoroughly," as
he put it. He himself was uninjured in the fall, although he had various
minute pieces of radiator in his wrist.
On March 20, 1918, he entered the U.S. Naval Air Service as an ensign and
afterward was on service at the Naval Air Station at Porto Corsini, Italy.
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SERVICE RECORD
Phelps Collins, Detroit, Michigan.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 17, 1 91 7.
Aviation Schools: May 22 to September I, 19 1 7,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: July 28, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 313, September 2
to September 18, 1917.
Escadrille Spad 103, September 19,
1917, to January 7, 1918.
Escadrille Lafayette: January 7
to February 18, 191 8.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Captain: January 9, 1918.
At the Front: 103d Pursuit Squadron, February
18 to March 12, 191 8.
Killed in line of duty: March 12, 191 8, near
Chateau-Thierry.
Decorations :
Croix de Guerre, with two Palms.
CITATIONS
Au Q.G.A., le 25 octobre, 191 7
I* re Armee, £tat-Major.
Le General Commandant la i** Armee, cite
a TOrdre de PArmee:
Collins, Phelps, M Ie 12, 183, Caporal au i CT Regiment fitranger,
Pilote a I'Escadrille S. 103
Citoyen americain engage dans PArmee Francaise avant la declaration de guerre des
£tats-Unis. Pilote de chasse d'un courage et d'une adresse exceptionnelle. Le 14 octobre,
191 7, a abattu en flammes dans nos lignes un avion ennemi.
(Signe) Anthoine
IV*mc Armee, £tat-Major. Le 25 mars, 191 8
Le General Commandant la 4 imc Armee cite a TOrdre de TArmee:
Captain Collins, Phelps, du i er Regiment de la Legion Etrangere detache a
I'Escadrille Lafayette
Pilote americain engage dans F Aviation Francaise, se revele de suite comme pilote hors
ligne, livrant journellement des combats au cours desquels il abat plusieurs avions ennemis.
Au cours d'une patrouille, est tombe mortellement frappe.
Le General Commandant la 4 ime Armee
Gouraud
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I
PHELPS COLLINS
N October, 1917, while flying with the French in Flanders, Phelps Col-
lins wrote the following letter to Major Gros, of the Lafayette Corps :
"Dear Major, — I brought down my first German this afternoon [one
of an enemy patrol of five]. I am feeling in good spirits, the reason being that
I can now leave the French Service without having cost the Government
anything. I have never broken a stick while flying with the French and have
knocked down an enemy machine for
them.
" I have given up my permission in
order to further prepare myself here
before being taken over by the Amer-
ican Army."
This brief letter is characteristic
of "Eddie" Collins, who was one of
the finest pilots in the Lafayette
Corps. No man worked harder to
perfect himself in the fine art of aerial
combat, and no American who was
trained in French schools gained such
excellent flying notes from his moni-
teurs. He was a born chasse pilot.
There are many airmen, both French
and American, who remember his
wonderful skill at acrobacy and com-
bat. While he was at G.D.E., await-
ing orders for the Front, all other
flying stopped when Collins climbed
into his Spad. Veteran pilots from
the Front as well as the moniteurs
watched him with joy as long as he collins in flanders
was in the air. This was an unusual
tribute, the highest possible one which could be paid him as a flyer.
It often happens that a pilot with a good record in the aviation schools
makes an indifferent fighter. Not so with Phelps Collins. He was seemingly
tireless, going out on voluntary patrols daily between the hours of regular
work. Shortly after being sent to the Front, his squadron, Spad 313, was
detailed for experimental duties as a night pursuit unit in the Dunkirk
sector. Collins was then transferred to Spad 103 which was operating on the
same region and used to fly with both squadrons. "Cest un garqon merveil-
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PHELPS COLLINS
leux. II est toujours en Vair" was the frequent comment of his old French
Captain in Spad 313.
In this first official victory, of which he speaks in the above letter, he shot
down a well-known German ace, who
had more than ten Allied planes to
his credit.
In the early winter Collins was
transferred to the U.S. Air Service
and assigned to the 103d Pursuit
Squadron, the old Escadrille Lafa-
yette, which was then operating on
the Champagne front.
Here, in a very short time, he shot
down two additional enemy planes.
Although there was no doubt about
the destruction of the German ma-
chines, the combats happened so far
within the enemy lines that neither
of them could be officially confirmed.
However, official confirmation mat-
tered little to Collins. So long as he
achieved something definite, know-
ing that he had done so, he was
more than satisfied.
On March 12, 1917, he made his
last flight. A patrol of German bomb-
theodore de kruijff and phelps ing planes was reported by telephone,
COLLINS AT PAU flying tQWard p ar ; s A fl j ght of fiye
machines was sent by the 103d Squadron to the zone of protection assigned
to it by French G.H.Q. This lay between Chateau-Thierry and Montmirail.
Collins had been flying all the morning, but insisted on accompanying this
afternoon patrol. After half an hour of uneventful flying, he was seen to leave
the flight, and it was believed by his comrades that he was having motor
trouble. A telephone message was received at the aerodrome a few hours
later, giving the news of his fall from a great height, and his instant death.
No German machines had been seen either from the air or from the ground,
and as the Chateau-Thierry zone of protection was far from the lines, it is
not likely that there were any in that region. (The enemy bombers had
passed far to the north and were driven back by a French squadron operat-
ing in another zone.) The cause of his death will never be known, but it is
likely that it was due to exhaustion after many days of constant flying and
fighting. He was buried among French soldiers in the Cemetery of Mont
Frenet.
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SERVICE RECORD
James A. Connelly, Jr., Philadelphia, Penn-
sylvania.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 15, 1917.
Aviation Schoob: June 20, 19 17, to January 12,
19 1 8, Avord, Pau, Cazeaux,
G.D.E.
Breveted: November 1, 19 17 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 157, January 15
to June 27, 1918.
Escadrille Spad 163, June 27, 1918,
to Armistice.
Final Rank: Adjudant.
Decorations:
Distinguished Service Cross.
MedaiUe Militaire.
Croix de Guerre, with five Palms.
CITATIONS
IV e Armee. 7 mai, 191 8
Le General Commandant le 4 C C.A., cite a
TOrdre du Corps d 'Armee:
Connelly, James, M k 12246, Caporal a
l'Escadrille N. 157 (G.C. 21)
Jeune pilote remarquable d'allant et de
hardiesse: avec un camarade a incendie, le 20
avril, 191 8, un ballon d'observation ennemi, malgre la presence d'un groupe d'avions au quels
les deux pilotes ont du livrer un dur combat pour regagner les lignes f rancaises.
6 e Armee, £tat-Major. Le 22 juin, 191 8
Citation a VOrdre de V Armee:
Connelly, James, Sergent a l'Escadrille Spa. 157, G.C. 21. Detache du
i er Regiment fitranger
Pilote de chasse d'une adresse remarquable.
Le . . . au cours d'un dur combat, a abattu son deuxieme appareil ennemi.
(Signe) Degoutte
Grand Quartier General des Armees du
Nord et du Nord Est, £tat Major. Le 4 oetobre, 191S
Le Medaille Militaire a ete conferee au
Sergent Connelly, James, (active) du i cr Regiment fitranger, Pilote Aviateur
Engage volontaire pour la duree de la guerre, s'impose a tous par Televation de son carac-
tere, ses qualites de pilote, son mepris absolu du danger. Le 6 septembre, 191 8, a remporte
sa $*"* victoire en abattant un monoplace ennemi. — Trois citations.
La presente nomination comporte Tattribution de la Croix de Guerre avec Palme.
Le General Commandant en Chef
Petain
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JAMES A. CONNELLY, Jr.
G.H.Q., A.E.F. 17 March, 1919
Sergeant James A. Connelly, Pilot French Air Service
Distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations
against an armed enemy of the United States at Suippes (France) on 6 September, 191 8, and
in recognition of his gallant conduct I have awarded him, in the name of the President, the
Distinguished Service Cross.
(Signed) John J. Pershing
Commander-in-Chief
JAMES A. CONNELLY, Jr.
DURING the spring of 191 7, at Avord, a tall and slender American
was to be seen daily, stalking serenely toward the Bleriot field. He
had little to say, particularly in regard to his own aerial exploits,
having little love for what our French comrades called bourrage de crane; he
PILOTS OF SPAD 163
(Connelly standing sixth from left)
abstained from the sensational sorties to which the rest of us were involun-
tary addicts, and in fact did not have a single Bleriot confirmation to his
credit. His friends will best remember him at this period by a rich Philadel-
phia accent and the unparalleled splendor of his raiment, which latter was an
inspiration to many a budding airman. It was "Jim" Connelly, later to be-
come one of the brilliant fighting pilots of the Lafayette Flying Corps.
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JAMES A. CONNELLY, Jr.
Connelly got to the Front on January 15, 1918, joining the Escadrille N.
157. On June 27 he was transferred to the Spad 163, with which unit he
served until the cessation of hostilities. Worn out by constant flying during
the heavy fighting of the final summer of the war, and on the point of a
nervous breakdown, Connelly hung on with a grim determination to do his
duty, and added daily to his brilliant reputation with the French. His skill
as pilot, his aggressiveness and reckless courage have placed him among the
aces, for he has eight official victories to his credit, as well as many others
shot down too far within the enemy lines for confirmation. His devotion to
duty has not gone unrecognized. He has won the Croix de Guerre and Me-
daille Militaire y and the American D.S.C. Connelly's citations, better than
any other form of eulogy, will tell the splendid story of his services to France.
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SERVICE RECORD
Alan A. Cook, Canandaigua, New York.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 21, 1917.
Aviation Schools: July 31 to December 16, 19 17,
Avord, Tours, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 20, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 157, December
20, 1917, to July 20, 1918.
Escadrille Spad 163, July 20,
1918, to Armistice.
Final Rank: Adjudant.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATION
Le 2 septembre, 191 8
Le General Commandant la IV C Armee
cite a TOrdre de TArmee:
Le Sergent Cook, Alan, de PEscadrille
Spa. 163, G.C. 21
Engage volontaire au i er fitranger, passe
sur sa demande dans l'aviation francaise, y
fait preuve des plus belles qualites d'en-
train et de courage. Le 11 aout, 1918, a
remporte sa premiere victoire officielle au
cours d'un combat tres dur ou un avion ennemi ecrase dans ses lignes.
Le General Commandant la IV e Armee
GOURAUD
ALAN A. COOK
COOK was one of the little band that went to Tours while the school
was still in French hands. He was exceptionally apt at flying and
went to Pau before the rest of his class. From Plessis-Belleville he
went to Belfort in December, 1917, to join the Escadrille Spad 157. The win-
ter was very severe in the mountain country and little flying was done until
the Squadron went to Chalons in February, to form the G.C. 21. From that
time on, Cook's hours in the air were many. He went through the Chateau-
Thierry and Champagne battles of 191 8, had many combats and one official
victory to his credit, and rose to the rank of Adjudant in the French army.
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SERVICE RECORD
Linn Palmer Cookson, Carlinville, Illinois.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 19, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 27, 1917, to February,
19 1 8, Avord, Tours, Pau,
G.D.E.
Breveted: October 27, 191 7 (Caudron).
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant: January 26,
1918.
Returned to the United States, June 1, 191 8.
Died September 15, 191 8.
LINN PALMER COOKSON
THERE are certain men who seem genuinely unlucky, despite the
best qualities of energy, good-will, and courage. Linn Cookson was
one of these. In the schools he was endlessly delayed by sickness, and
at Pau had a bad fall, due to motor trouble. In spite of bad health and worse
luck, he was never discouraged, and his dry, satirical wit furnished cheer for
all who knew him, during the dreary days of waiting at the G.D.E. At last
he transferred to the American army and joined a newly formed squadron,
but Cookson was destined never to reach the Front, for in the summer he
was sent home, an invalid, and later on his friends were saddened to hear that
he had died on September 15, 1918, as the result of an operation for appen-
dicitis.
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SERVICE RECORD
Russell B. Corey, New York City.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment; July 21, 19 17.
Aviation Schools: August 1, 1917, to February,
1918, Avord, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 27, 19 17 (Caudron).
Final Rank: Caporal,
Service in U.S. Naval Aviation:
Commissioned Ensign.
RUSSELL B. COREY
HAVING lived a good deal in France before the war, Corey had a pleas-
ant time in the schools, where he was able to get along well with the
French and to help his comrades by acting as interpreter. At Tours
he was made a species of Field-Marshal who mustered the Franco-American
Air Forces and marched them to the field with great military precision. Like
Bluthenthal and Kyle, Corey took the difficult Schmidt training, and, at the
G.D.E., perfected himself in flying a Breguet. When on the point of going to
the Front, he was taken over by the American Navy, and as in the case of so
many Navy men, the Lafayette Flying Corps has no further record of him.
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SERVICE RECORD
Edward J. Corsi, Brooklyn, New York.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 15, 19 17.
Aviation Schools: June 8, 1917, to May 14, 1918,
Avord,Pau,Cazeaux,G.D.E.
Breveted: October 30, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 77 ', May 30, 191 8,
to Armistice.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre^ with Palm and Star.
EDWARD J. CORSI
CORSI is one of those men who learn slowly, but who learn well. At
Avord in the Bleriot School he had the usual difficulties in mastering
the old six pattes and up to the time of his brevet showed no brilliant
gift for flying. At Pau, however, he did excellent work and finished by be-
coming a clever and daring pilot. The French recognized his ability by
making him an instructor, so that he did not arrive at the Front until some-
what later than his contemporaries of Avord, but once in the Escadrille Spad
77, he proved that he had mastered his art and possessed fine qualities of
initiative and fearlessness.
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SERVICE RECORD
John Rowell Cotton, Chicago, Illinois.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 10, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 16, 1917, to January 10,
1918, Avord, G.D.E.
Breveted: November 30, 19 17 (Caudron).
At the Front: EscadriUe Br. 120, January 15
to June 17, 1918.
Final Rank: CaporaL
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant.
At the Front: Attached to French Squadron Br.
120, June to September, 1918.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with two Stars.
CITATIONS
Le 23 juin, 191 8
Le Chef d'Escadron Vuillemin, Commandant
rEscadre de Bombardement N° 12,
cite a TOrdre de l'Escadre les mili-
taires dont les noms suivent: . . .
Le Lieutenant Pilote Americain Cotton,
John, de l'Escadrille 120 (G.B. 5)
Tres bon pilote consciencieux et coura-
geux, s'est distingue pendant Poffensive en
accomplissant un grand nombre de missions a basse altitude. Le 12 juin, 1918, a soutenu
un tres dur combat avec des avions ennemis et est rentre avec un avion crible de balles.
(Signe) Vuillemin
G.Q.G., 10 decembre, 191 8
i er Lieutenant Pilote John Cotton, a PEscadrille 12
Officier pilote modele, d'une conscience et d'un devouement admirables. A fait toutes les
attaques depuis le 28 mars, 191 8, s'est particulierement distingue le 15 juillet, en executant
un bombardement sur les ponts de la Marne.
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JOHN ROWELL COTTON
BREVETED on Caudron on November 30, 1917, Cotton found himself
interested in the day-bombing branch of Aviation, and at his request
the French allowed him to specialize in Breguet work. In addition to
being a first-class pilot, he took his bombing seriously, studied every phase
of it, and strove to perfect himself in its fine points. Going to the Front in
January, 191 8, in the Escadrille Br. 120, he did excellent work and won high
praise from the French. In June he was transferred to the United States
Army with the rank of 1st Lieutenant, but was allowed to continue in
the same squadron, where he had become a flight commander in whom
high confidence was placed. All through the heavy fighting of the summer,
during the German advance and subsequent German retreat, he was con-
stantly in the air, leading his Breguets across the lines to drop their bombs
on enemy bridges, convoys, and munition dumps. Had the war continued,
Cotton would have risen to a position of great responsibility, for he was con-
sidered by his superiors in the American army as one of the best day-bomb-
ing men we possessed.
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SERVICE RECORD
Elliot Christopher Cowdin, New York City.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: March 5, 1915.
Aviation Schools: March 9 to May 1, 191 5, Pau.
Breveted: April 29, 1915 (Voisin).
At the Front: Escadrille V.B. 108, May 3 to August 15, 191 5.
Escadrille N. 38, September 30 to November 10, 191 5.
Escadrille N. 49, November 12, 1915, to January 15, 1916.
Escadrille N. 65, March 2 to April 18, 19 16.
Escadrille Lafayette, April 28 to June 25, 1916.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Major: June, 1918.
Attached to Lockhart Special Mission, Board of Aircraft Production.
Decorations :
Medaille Militaire,
Croix de Guerre, with two Palms and Star.
CITATIONS
Grand Quartier General des Armees de
l'Est, £tat-Major. Le gjuillet, 191 5
Le General Commandant en Chef cite a l'Ordre de l'Armee le militaire dont le nom suit:
Caporal Cowdin, Pilote de l'Escadrille V.B. 108
Citoyen americain engage pour la duree de la guerre, execute joumellement de longues
expeditions de bombardement. Excellent pilote qui plusieurs fois a attaque des avions
ennemis. Le 26 juin, 191 5, rencontrant simultanement deux avions allemands, les attaque
et les force successivement a descendre, Tun d'eux paraissant gravement atteint; a eu lui-
meme son moteur et son avion gravement endommages par le tir des avions allemands et
plusieurs atteintes dans son casque.
Le General Commandant en Chef
Joffre
Grand Quartier G£neral, £tat-Major
ASronautique. Le 18 avril, 1916
Le Lieutenant-Colonel du Service Aeronautique au G.Q.G. cite a l'Ordre du Service Aero-
nautique:
Le Marechal des Logis Cowdin, Elliot, de rEscadrille N. 65
Americain, engage pour la duree de la guerre, fait preuve joumellement d'un devouement
absolu. Pilote energique et brave, n'a pas hesite a poursuivre dans leurs lignes plusieurs
avions ennemis pendant la bataille de Verdun; malgreque son appareil soit en mauvais etat,
a eu un combat heureux.
(Signe) Barres
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ELLIOT CHRISTOPHER COWDIN
Grand Quartier General des Armees
£tat-Major. Le 20 avril, 1916
La Medaille Militaire a ete confere au Militaire dont le nom suit:
Cowdin, Elliot, M k 11334, Marechal des Logis, Pilote a PEscadrille N. 65
Engage volontaire pour la duree de la guerre, n'a cesse de faire preuve d'un entrain, d'une
bravoure et d'un devouement remarquables. Abattu un avion ennemi au cours de recentes
operations. A attaque 12 appareils allemands dont Tun d'eux a ete detruit. Deja cite a
Tordre de l'armee.
Le presente nomination comporte Tattribution de la Croix de Guerre avec palme.
(Signs) Joffre
ELLIOT CHRISTOPHER COWDIN
ELLIOT COWDIN, one of the original seven members of the Esca-
drille Lafayette, began his war service in the American Ambulance.
Meeting Norman Prince in Paris, in February, 1915, he at once
caught his enthusiasm and worked with him to further the organization
of the Escadrille Am'ericaine.
Prince met with many dis-
couragements and was some-
times almost disheartened. On
one of these occasions, Cow-
din, on leave in Paris, find-
ing that there were enough
breveted American pilots to
make up a squadron, talked
with Colonel Barres, then
Chief of French Aeronautics
in the Zone des Armies, who
promised him that he would
give his active support to the
work of assembling the Amer-
icans in one unit. Cowdin sent
, t> • 1 • SERGEANT COWDIN. LIEUTENANT DE LAAGE
the news to rnnce, who 1m- DE meux. captain thenault. lieutenant thaw
mediately regained his enthu-
siasm for the original plan. In such ways as this, each of the early vol-
unteers played important parts in making the N. 124 a reality.
Cowdin received his early training on Voisin, and was sent to the Front as
a pilot in the Groupe de Bombardement 108. This was nearly a year before the
Escadrille Am'ericaine was sent to Luxeuil to begin active duty. After three
months and a half of bombardment work, he went to Avord for training as a
chasse pilot, returning to the Front in September, to the Escadrille N. 38.
In December, 1915, he went with Thaw and Prince on a month's permission
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ELLIOT CHRISTOPHER COWDIN
to America. This visit is of great historic interest in the history of the La-
fayette Corps. Much against their will the three Americans were kept in the
public eye. Supporters of the Allied cause urged their example in pleading for
America's intervention in the war. German sympathizers, on the other hand,
asked for their internment because of their open violation of American neu-
trality. The French Government was not unmindful of the widespread inter-
est aroused by three Americans who were actually in arms in the French serv-
ice. Whether intentional or not, the visit to the United States was a piece of
excellent diplomacy. It convinced the authorities in Paris that a squadron
of American volunteers would have an important influence on opinion in
the United States, and a few months later, the N. 124 took its place at the
Front.
A week after his arrival at the Escadrille Americaine, Cowdin received the
Medaille Militaire for a combat against a large German patrol, one of which
he shot down. He was the first American Pilot to receive this much-coveted
decoration. He had already been twice cited for his work with the French
squadrons, V.B. 108 and N. 65.
One of his most interesting adventures during his service with N. 124,
happened while the Squadron was operating on the Verdun sector. The
account of it comes, strangely enough, from a German source, and is an ex-
tract from the diary of Boelke, the great German airman who was killed later
in the year:
"July 4, 1916
"Around Verdun there has not been much aerial activity until to-day.
I had already flown twice and was sitting idly at our aerodrome when I heard
the sound of machine-gun fire, and saw one of our German biplaces being
attacked by a Nieuport. The German soon landed safely in my neighbor-
hood. 'The devil is loose at the Front/ he declared breathlessly. * There are
six Americans out there. I distinctly saw the flag on the machine! They are
very bold and come far on our side of the lines/
"After all, I thought, they can't be so dangerous, and I set out to see for
myself. Rightly enough, there they were, flying in a group, back and forth
across the lines. I approached, opening fire upon the first one who seemed to
be a beginner; at any rate, I was able to approach within a hundred meters
and observe him. As he was somewhat in the clouds, I was justified in think-
ing that I could bring him down; but luck was against me. My machine was
fresh from the factory, and after about seventy shots my gun jammed.
During this time the other five Americans had come up, and as I was without
defense I decided to withdraw. I maneuvered by sliding down on my left
wing, and a few hundred meters lower brought my machine into a normal
position. But as they were still chasing me, I repeated the maneuver, and at
an altitude of 200 meters re-dressed and flew back to camp, little pleased,
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ELLIOT CHRISTOPHER COWDIN
although untouched, while the Americans continued their flight along the
Front."
Boelke's diary was afterward published in Germany, and found its way to
France. By examining the records of the Lafayette Squadron, it was possible
to identify the pilot whom Boelke attacked. It was Elliot Cowdin who was so
nearly ambushed when Boelke dived upon him from under cover of a cloud.
In August, 191 6, Cowdin was compelled to retire from active service be-
cause of ill health. He spent six weeks in hospital and was then attached to
the British Aviation Headquarters in Paris. In January, 19 17, he was re-
leased from the French Service and returned to America. In June, 191 8, he
was commissioned Major in the U.S. Air Service and attached to the Lock-
hart Special Mission, Board of Aircraft Production, with which he served
until the close of the war.
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SERVICE RECORD
Austen Ballard Crehore, Westfield, New York.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 1 6, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: July 21 to November 28,
191 7, Avord, Tours, Pau,
G.D.E.
Breveted: September 29, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 94, December 1 ,
19 1 7, to Armistice.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with two Palms.
CITATIONS
Le 29 Janvier, 191 8
IV e Armee, £tat-Major.
Le General Commandant la IV e Armee cite
a TOrdre de l'Armee:
Caporal de la Legion fitrangere, Crehore,
Austen (Americain), M Ie 12228, de
l'Escadrille 94
Jeune pilote de chasse, fin et hardi, at-
taque ses adversaires des ses premieres sorties,
en descend un loin dans ses lignes le 19 Jan-
vier, 1918.
Le General Commandant la IV e Armee
Gouraud
Le 1 septembre, 191 8
Le General Commandant le Groupe d' Armee de Reserve cite a TOrdre de l'Armee:
Crehore, Austen, No. M ,c 12339, Sergent a la Legion fitrangere, Pilote-Aviateur
Pilote de premier ordre, plein d'allant, d'energie, et d'audace, a peine remie d'une longue
maladie, est revenu a son escadrille ou il se bat avec le plus bel entrain, portant le combat
meme sur les terrains deviation ennemis.
Le 9 aout a eu des combats tres durs au cours desquels son appareil a ete crible de balles.
Fhotograph by Catupbell Studios, Sew York
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AUSTEN BALLARD CREHORE
ABOUT the time that active hostilities between Germany and the
/-A United States commenced, Austen Crehore tried to enter the Flying
X JL Service in the American army. Refused by the American Examining
Board, he came to France, where combat pilots were badly needed, and en-
listed in the French army through the Lafayette Flying Corps.
About four months after arriving in France he had finished aerial acrobacy
at Pau, having been breveted at Tours. In spite of physical defects, he com-
pleted his training with exception-
ally good notes, went to the Front
in December, 191 7, and gained his
first victory a month after joining his
esc&drille. His flying partner at this
time was Marinovitch, who later be-
came one of France's leading aces.
Crehore deserves a good deal of
credit for the later career of Marino-
vitch, having very probably saved
him from being shot down on one oc-
casion. For his work with Spad 94
he was given the Croix de Guerre and
proposed for the Medaille Militaire.
Both honors were richly merited, for
the quality of his service was unusu-
ally fine. He never lost an opportun-
ity for combat, no matter what the
odds against him or how small the
chance for official recognition of his
efforts.
At another time, far within the en-
emy lines, he machine-gunned an
aviation field, shot down an Alba- crehore and marinovitch
tross which was just taking off, then
attacked a German observation balloon, forcing the observers to jump in
their parachutes. He forced the balloon to the ground, although his gun was
jammed at the time, and he could do no more than dive at it. This exploit
was seen from afar by another pilot who reported it at his aerodrome. It
was one of many like adventures which accounts for the sincere affection
and respect which his comrades, both French and American, had for him.
Marinovitch, the Serbian volunteer and his old flying partner, wrote of
him as follows:
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AUSTEN BALLARD CREHORE
"At the beginning of December, 1917, Crehore arrived in my squadron
[Escadrille 94]. A few other Americans came about the same time, Putnam,
Wally Winter, and Woodward. I got to know Crehore and Winter awfully
well, and we were the three best friends in the world. Crehore wanted to get
Boches terribly hard; the only trouble was we had Nieuports when nearly
every other squadron had Spads, and we were terribly handicapped. Crehore
and I were flying every day; never could we find a Boche. December passed
and January, and poor old Crehore was nearly wild. By this time, Putnam
had got his first, and on the 15th of January, Crehore and I decided we must
see one, so we went far into the enemy's lines and waited. Finally I spied a
Boche alone, and a big patrol, but much farther away. I put full motor on,
outdistancing Crehore (he had a cylinder off his motor, which, of course, I did
not know). I got into a fight with the Boche, but he, having a much superior
machine — it was an Albatross — all painted "tango," soon got the better
of me, and was just going to bring me down, when Crehore, by very clever
maneuvering caught him, and the Boche fell vertically, losing a bit of his
plane. We were twenty kilometers in Germany, and we still had to get home
before the big patrol caught us. No matter, Crehore followed him to the
ground ! This was the first Boche Crehore had ever seen, also his first official
victory, and I'll never forget how he saved my life that day with a rotten
machine and a motor on the bum!
"After the fight I was sure Crehore was going to be the best American
flyer and catch up to Lufbery very quick. Unfortunately, just as our squad-
ron got Spads, he fell ill, and the doctor, as soon as he was better, wanted to
reforme him. He raised such a row at this idea that they sent him home for
four months. When he got back, we were having a lot of trouble with our
Hispano motors, and Crehore was especially unlucky. However, he had many
hard fights bringing back his machine full of holes. On the 1 5th of July, he
saved another pilot attacked by three Boches, and after a big fight got lost
in Germany. He found a German aviation field, and a monoplace started to
get him; he did n't give him time, and just as the Boche was leaving the
ground, Crehore jumped on his tail and saw him smash up wonderfully. The
clouds were very low, and he could not come home, as we often do, by the
sun, so he looked on the aviation field and saw where the wind came from;
he knew it was blowing from the west, so made for that direction, following
the Foret de PArgonne. On his way back he attacked two German sausages
and made both observers jump out, but could n't put them on fire. This
Boche was never counted, as he fell too far, and the weather was too bad for
him to be seen from our lines. Crehore is one of the finest pilots I know and
the best pal I've ever had."
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SERVICE RECORD
Arthur Lawrence Cunningham, Medford,
Massachusetts.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 7, 1917.
Aviation Schools: July 15, 1917, to February,
19 1 8, Avord, Pau, Cazeaux,
G.D.E.
Breveted: December 1, 1917 (Caudron).
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant: January 24,
1918.
Promoted First Lieutenant: August 1, 1918.
At the Front: 94th Pursuit Squadron, March 4,
19 1 8, to Armistice.
Operations Officer, 94th Pursuit
Squadron, September 1 to Oc-
tober I, 19 1 8.
Operations Officer, First Pursuit
Group, October 1, 1918, to the
Armistice.
CUNNINGHAM AND YORK. AVORD
JULY. 1917
ARTHUR LAWRENCE CUNNINGHAM
ARTHUR CUNNINGHAM quickly won the distinction of demolish-
yljk ing more Bleriots than any one man, except certain Russians, at
X JL Avord. This habit vastly amused his fellow students, and gave
Cunningham a dash and recklessness which stood him in good stead when he
was sent to the Front. He never was hurt in an accident, yet his skill in
utterly wrecking the fragile monoplanes was amazing. These smashes were
unavoidable and never drew harsh words from the French monitors, but
Cunningham persisted, and became a very clever pilot. Before he was sent
to the Front he transferred to the American army, and joined the 94th
Pursuit Squadron.
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SERVICE RECORD
Frazier Curtis, Boston, Massachusetts.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: March 2, 191 5.
Aviation Schools: March 2 to August 8, 1915,
Pau.
Released from French Service: August 8, 191 5.
Final Rank: Soldat.
r
FRAZIER CURTIS
N the various accounts of the
early history of the Lafayette
Flying Corps, Frazier Curtis has
not received the credit due him for
his really important share in launch-
ing the movement. Although well
past his thirties, he was learning to
fly at Marblehead when the idea
of the Escadrille Americaine first oc-
curred to Prince, and the two friends
discussed the project in all its as-
pects. In the beginning, Curtis de-
sired to join the British Service, as
his French was not fluent, and sailed for England on December 25, 1914,
promising to cross to France if his effort to enlist in the R.N.A.S. proved
unsuccessful. Refused in England on account of his citizenship, which he was
unwilling to give up, he went to Paris on February 9, 191 5, and was soon
enlisted in the French Aviation.
In Paris, Curtis worked hard, with Prince, the de Lesseps brothers, and
other friends, to interest the authorities in the formation of a corps of Ameri-
can flyers. Undaunted by his age — a serious handicap in learning to fly —
he went at his training with admirable spirit and energy, but had two bad
crashes at Avord during the spring, resulting in a period of hospital and
forty-five days' sick-leave. This latter he spent in Paris, recruiting among the
Ambulance men, and working toward the organization of a large corps —
always his dream. It was at this period that he got into touch with Dr. Gros,
whom he introduced to M. de Sillac: an important service to the future
Corps. Because of injuries received in flying, Curtis was forced to accept his
release from the army but not before he had done valuable pioneer work,
which went far toward insuring the future success of the Lafayette Corps.
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SERVICE RECORD
Alvin Alexander Cushuan, Brookline, Massa-
chusetts.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 22, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 29, 1917, to February,
1918, Avord, Pau, G.D.E
Breveted: December 4, 1918 (Caudron).
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Naval Aviation:
Commissioned Ensign.
ALVIN ALEXANDER CUSHMAN
CUSHMAN was an earnest and hard-working eleve-pilote, one of the
last Americans to take Bleriot training. After finishing his perfection
work on Nieuport, he transferred to the United States Navy and
was sent to England. On May 23, 1918, while flying a B.E. 2, bombing
machine, he had a serious accident. A broken thigh kept him in hospital for
more than five months. Upon recovering from his injuries he again took up
his flying duties, and became a pilot of hydro-aeroplanes. He was stationed
at Bolsena, Italy, until the end of the war.
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SERVICE RECORD
Philip Washburn Davis, West Newton, Massa-
chusetts.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 9, 19 17.
Aviation Schools: June 15, 191 7, to February,
191 8, Avord, Pau, Cazeaux,
G.D.E.
Breveted: October 28, 1917 (Caudron).
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant, February 23,
1918.
At the Front: 94th Pursuit Squadron, April 1 to
June 2, 1918.
Killed in combat: June 2, 191 8 (Toul Sector).
PHILIP WASHBURN DAVIS
DAVIS was older than most of those who went through the schools
with him, less boisterous and less given to dissertation on his flying
prowess. Quiet and pleasant in manner, he was one of the coolest
and steadiest of pilots, completing with honor the difficult Bleriot train-
ing and leaving an excellent record at Pau. He was one of those men who
have little to say, but may be counted on in any emergency. After his
transfer to the United States Air Service, Davis went to the Front with the
94th Pursuit Squadron, then operating in the Toul Sector. On June 2, 1918,
while protecting an English bombing flight, he attacked six German single-
seaters and was shot down in flames within the enemy lines.
Philip Davis is mourned by the many friends to whom his fine qualities
had endeared him. At his death the Service lost a very gallant officer, under
whose serene and quizzical exterior lay a true devotion to duty and the
steadfast courage which asks no odds of Fate.
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SERVICE RECORD
George Dock, Jr., St. Louis, Missouri.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 191 5-
16.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 10, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 20, 19 17, to March 15,
191 8, Avord, Pau, Cazeaux,
G.D.E.
Breveted: November 14, 19 17 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 12, and Spad 31,
March 18, 191 8, to Armistice.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star (Ambulance Service).
Croix de Guerre, with Star (Aviation).
CITATIONS
Le 28 avril, 191 7
Lc Directeur du Service de Sante du 3i e
Corps d'Armee cite a l'Ordre du Service
de Sante du Corps d'Armee:
Dock, George, Conducteur Americain,
S.S.U. N° 2
Depuis fort longtemps s'est distingue
parmi ses camarades par son mepris du danger et son entrain remarquable. Volontaire pour
toutes les missions dangereuses: les 18 septembre et 28 decembre, 191 6, s'est depense pour
des evacuations difficiles et particulierement penibles sur des routes sans cesse bombardees.
(Signe) Du Bourguet
Le 25 mai, 191 8
Le Chef d'Escadrons Duseigneur, Commandant le Groupe de Combat N° 11, cite a l'Ordre
du Regiment:
Le Caporal Dock, George, Pilote a rEscadrille Spa. 12
Pilote plein d'entrain. S'est depense sans compter depuis le debut de la bataille, mitraillant
les tranchees, attaquant les drachens et livrant de nombreux combats au cours desquels
il a oblige l'adversaire a fuir. Est souvent rentre, son appareil atteint par des projectiles
ennemis.
(Signe) Duseigneur
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GEORGE DOCK, Jr.
LONG before our declaration of war, George Dock was driving an am-
bulance on the Western Front, where, during the great attacks on
-* Verdun, he evacuated wounded under conditions of extreme diffi-
culty. Cited for bravery and coolness under fire while with the Ambulance,
SAXON. DOCK, READ, AND MILLS AT AVORD, OCTOBER. 1917
he decided in the spring of 1917 that the time had come to take a more active
part in the war, and on May 30, he enlisted in the L.F.C. In the schools he
took his flying seriously, but had some difficulty in mastering the 18-meter
Nieuport. It is a curious fact, that a man who, at one time, almost despaired
of successfully handling the small fast machines, developed on the Front into
one of the most skillful Spad pilots of the Corps.
In the Escadrille Spad 31, during the fighting on the Marne and in the
Argonne, Dock had many thrilling experiences, especially on one occasion
when in the midst of a combat, well into the enemy lines, his propeller split,
and he only reached friendly territory by a miraculous combination of good
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GEORGE DOCK, Jr.
luck and skillful handling. Few Lafayette men have seen more of the heavy
fighting of 1918 than Dock. On March 15, his squadron arrived at Fere-en-
Tardenois, and when, on the 21st, the Germans struck in the north, the Spad
31 patrolled the entire front between the aerodrome and Saint-Quentin,
making daily raids far into the enemy lines to shoot up troops and convoys.
On May 27, Germany launched her last great attack southward from the
Chemin des Dames, and Dock's squadron, as usual, was in the thick of the
fighting. His experiences during those long and anxious June days on the
Marne, when the air was alive with Pfalz and Fokker scouts, manned by
an enemy bitterly mordant, will endure in his memory. And so throughout
the last summer and autumn of the war, wherever the fighting was heaviest,
at Saint-Mihiel and in the Argonne, the Spad 3 1 was to be found, until at
last the strange day came when the news spread from squadron to squad-
ron that the war was over. In years to come, as Dock looks back on his
part in the struggle, he should feel a real and lasting satisfaction.
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SERVICE RECORD
Charles H. Dolan, Jr., Boston, Massachusetts.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: August II, 1916.
Aviation Schools: August 30, 1916, to May 10,
191 7, Buc, Avord, Pau,
G.D.E.
Breveted: March 10, 19 1 7 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette, May 12,
1917, to February 18, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: January 14,
1918.
At the Front: 103d Pursuit Squadron, February
18, 1918, to October 16, 1918.
On duty in America: October 16, 1918, to Armis-
tice.
CHARLES H. DOLAN, Jr.
C
|ARL DOLAN, Irish patriot
and stanch follower of John
Boyle O'Reilly, is one of the
original crowd of old-timers who gave
employment to the Annamite wreck-
ing gang at the Bleriot school at Buc. With the exception of a forced landing
on a shell-wrecked terrain near Verdun, his work at the Front was without
dramatic incident. His monogrammed Spad was in the midst of many a hotly
contested battle, but Fate seemed to be against him. He never succeeded in
bringing down an enemy, or, more accurately, he never secured official con-
firmation of a victory. He gained real distinction, however, by returning
from a furlough in America, in the remarkably short period of two months,
including traveling time. The average furlough to the States required an
actual absence from duty from three to four months, and a few of them,
unfortunately, were for the duration of the war. Carl has a fine sense of duty,
and did not exceed the limit of his furlough by so much as a day, thus shaming
earlier leave-takers, and setting an honorable record for later ones.
At the time of the transfer of the Lafayette Squadron to the American
army, he performed valuable service, as electrician to the unit, and officer in
charge of mechanics. With the assistance of a few of the old French mechan-
icians, loaned by the French Government, he instructed the newly arrived
and untried American personnel, in the care and reparation of the intricate
Hispano-Suiza motors, and was largely responsible for the success with
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CHARLES H. DOLAN, Jr.
which they later performed their duties. He did this work in addition to his
daily patrols, and with the same painstaking thoroughness. He had a high
sense of the importance of the work to
be done, and while this gave his fellow
pilots irresistible opportunities for
boisterous "ragging" every one of
them secretly admired him for this
very quality. Unlike many Irishmen,
Dolan was slow to anger, and could
take any amount of chaff with un-
ruffled good nature.
The spring of 191 8 witnessed the
final break-up of the old Lafayette
Squadron. It had been the hope of all
the men that they might be kept to-
gether at the Front as a unit until the
close of the war; but the needs of the
U.S. Air Service made this impossible.
Some of the pilots were sent as flight
and squadron commanders to newly
formed units; others, as flying in-
structors, to aviation schools both in
France and in America. And so the
old, never-to-be-forgotten fellowship
came to an end. Carl Dolan is one of
the men who did more than his share DOLAN AT BUC IQl6
to make the squadron comradeship
bright and happily memorable, and for this service he has the grateful
acknowledgment of all of his fellow pilots in Spad 124.
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SERVICE RECORD
Robert L. Donze, Santa Barbara, California.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: November 7, 1916.
Aviation Schools: November 8, 1916, to May 10,
1917, Buc, Avord, Pau,
G.D.E.
Breveted: March 19, 1917 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrille N. 93, May 20 to June
is, 1917.
Escadrille N. 314, November 28,
1917, to March 22, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant.
On duty at American Acceptance Park, Orly,
as Officer in Charge of Motor and Receiv-
ing Division and later as Operations Officer,
March 25, 1918, to Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
ROBERT L. DONZE
Ti
^HE Great War may have
been a call of the blood with
Donze. His forbears were
French and some of his remote family connections still live on French soil.
It is likely, however, that in common with those of most of the volun-
teers, his motives in enlisting were mixed. Duty seems all the more duty
when it goes arm in arm with adventure. Donze made no effort to resist
the appeal, got his "wings" while flying a Bleriot, and was sent to N. 93,
a French squadron, where he was the only American representative.
A year later there were but few French combat squadrons which did not
have at least one Lafayette pilot, but this was not true in the spring
of 1917. Donze was one of a very small group of "Yanks" who were then
laying the foundations for the friendly and sympathetic understanding of
one another's qualities which since grew so rapidly among French and Amer-
ican aviators. This broad and firm friendship as it existed in the Air Service
became possible because of the early intimacy of the association between
French airmen and the Americans of the L.F.C. These latter took to pinard
as naturally as they did to the air, and, if one may say so, were at home in
both elements.
Donze had the misfortune to crash badly after a month of service with
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ROBERT L. DONZE
N. 93. On June 15, while testing out a new machine, he was forced to land,
owing to faulty reglage, and ran into a trench hidden by the grass. His Spad
turned over, the safety belt broke, and he was pitched out, the tail of the
machine coming down on him, breaking two ribs and nearly severing his left
ROBERT DONZE (right) AT A PRISE DARMES, BELFORT
arm. The next three months he spent in hospital. Then he got married, re-
turned to the Front with Escadrille N. 314, where he was on service until
his transfer to the United States Air Service. He was then sent to the
American Acceptance Park at Orly Field, near Paris, where he served as a
flight commander in charge of the fixed motor division, and later as officer in
charge of the receiving division. At the end of the war he was still carrying on
in this position.
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SERVICE RECORD
James Ralph Doouttle, New York City.
Previous Service: Norton-Harjes Ambulance,
1916.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: October 16, 1916.
Aviation Schools: December 21, 1916, to July 1,
19 1 7, Blic, Avord, Pau,
G.D.E.
Breveted: March 22, 19 17 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette, July 2 to
July 17, 1917.
Final Rank: Cap oral.
Wounded in combat: July 17, 1917.
Released from French Aviation.
Returned to America.
Killed while flying as civilian instructor at Gerst-
ner Field, Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATION
Au G.Q.G.y le 12 aout, 1917
Le General Commandant la i* rc Armee cite
a TOrdre de PArmee:
Doolittle, James, M fe 1 1994, Caporal
Pilote & PEscadrille N. 124
Citoyen americain. Jeune pilote plein d'entrain. Le 17 juillet, 191 7, a livre combat a un
avion ennemi qui tentait d'incendier un ballon britannique et Pa mis en fuite. A ete blesse
de deux balles au cours de ce combat.
(Signe) Anthoine
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JAMES RALPH DOOLITTLE
THROUGHOUT his career at the Front Doolittle was pursued by
hard luck. At G.D.E. while awaiting orders for the Front, he wing-
slipped into the ground and was badly cut about the face. After eight
weeks in hospital he was sent to the Escadrille Lafayette, two weeks before
the squadron was ordered to Dunkirk, for the great British offensive in
Flanders. During this move he became lost in the clouds, came out of them
over a German aviation field, was machine-gunned from below, changed
direction, pulled up into the clouds again, and the next time, saw the ground
in the vicinity of a British observation balloon. He was just in time to assist
a British pilot who was repulsing an attack upon the balloon. In the battle
which followed, Ralph received a flesh wound in the calf of his leg. On landing
his machine turned over, and in the crash, an old face wound — the result
of his former accident, reopened.
This was his first and last real adventure while at the Front. He passed
several weeks in hospital and was then granted his release for the purpose of
returning to America. While there he became a civilian instructor at an avia-
tion school at Lake Charles, Louisiana. He met his death in an accident while
flying at this school.
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SERVICE RECORD
Dennis Dowd, New York City.
Previous Service: Foreign Legion (Infantry),
I9I4-I5.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: March 28, 19 16.
Aviation Schools: April 13 to August 1 1, 1916,
Buc
Killed in line of duty: August 12, 1916, at Buc.
D
DENNIS DOWD
L ENNIS DOWD was prob-
ably the first American who
went to France from the
United States for the purpose of
enlisting in the French Foreign Le-
gion. Several of his fellow country-
men preceded him by several days
in offering their services, but they
were either permanently resident in
the country or there on business or
pleasure at the time war was de-
clared. Dowd, whose love for France came second only to his love for
America, sailed immediately after the beginning of hostilities, and enlisted
on August 26, 1 91 4. He was not a lover of war and had no illusions as to what
the nature of his service was to be. But his former comrades in the Legion and
in the 170th Infantry Regiment, to which he afterward transferred, say that
he never once complained of hardship or failed in the accomplishment of a
duty. He was a keen observer, and wrote of war with a kind of Barbussian
touch which made his letters interesting and worth while. "I have never seen
the kind of bayonet charge I read about. It is usually the slow amble of a lot
of brutally tired men, over ground that has been torn to pieces by big guns, so
that when the enemy is reached, there is none of the fancy play with the
bayonet as taught at school. Men of both sides have a real distaste for that
yard of cold steel, and they just poke dully and rather carefully at one an-
other, until one side or the other runs."
Dowd was wounded in the Champagne offensive of September and Octo-
ber, 1915, and spent the autumn and winter in hospital. When again ready
for duty he transferred to the French Air Service, where he made an unusu-
ally brilliant record while in training. He had almost completed his brevet
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DENNIS DOWD
tests when he was killed by accident while making his altitude flight. He was
the second American airman to be killed in France and the first one to meet
his death at an aviation school. His loss was an irreparable one to the Franco-
THE AMERICAN BARRACKS AT BUC, 1916
American Corps, as it was then called, but coming as it did, at a time when
the American attitude toward the Allied cause was still undefined, the news
went abroad and did much to enlist American sympathy on the side of lib-
erty-loving nations. And so Dowd served his country in his death as he had
served it in life, to splendid purpose.
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SERVICE RECORD
Meredith L. Dowd, Orange, New York.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1916.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 14, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: June 20 to December 29,
191 7, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: November 7, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille N. 152, January 1 to
February 6, 19 18.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant: April 8, 19 18.
Attached to 471st (French) Squadron at Le
Bourget (defense of Paris), April 30 to July 17,
1918.
American Acceptance Park, Orly, July 17 to
August 29, 1918.
At the Front: 147th Pursuit Squadron, August
29 to October 26, 19 18.
Killed in combat: October 26, 19 18, near Danne-
voux (Verdun Sector).
Decoration:
Distinguished Service Cross.
CITATION
The Distinguished Service Cross is awarded to
Second Lieutenant Meredith L. Dowd, Air Service
For extraordinary heroism in action near Dannevoux, France, October 26, 191 8. Having
been unable to overtake and join a patrol, Lieutenant Dowd alone encountered four German
planes, which he daringly attacked. He fought with most wonderful skill and bravery, diving
into the formation and sending one of the enemy machines to the earth. In the course of the
combat his machine was disabled and crashed to the earth, killing him in the fall.
By command of General Pershing
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MEREDITH L. DOWD
1ARRY DOWD went to the Front on February I, 1918, joining the
Escadrille N. 152 (the "Crocodiles"), which had the unique distinc-
-* tion of bringing down a Zeppelin at Bourbonne-les-Bains. After
receiving his commision in the U.S. Air Service he was sent to a squadron
stationed at Le Bourget, then engaged in the defense of Paris. He was a
man of action, as he had proved by volunteering in the American Field
Service long before our declaration of war, and the life of comparative in-
activity at Le Bourget was irksome to him; but his desire for real fighting
was soon gratified by his assignment to the 147th Pursuit Squadron. All
through the heavy fighting of the autumn of 191 8, Dowd played a man-
ful part until he met his death in combat — a combat which exemplifies
his splendid qualities of courage and determination.
It was the 26th of October — two o'clock in the afternoon of a hazy au-
tumn day. Motor trouble had forced Dowd to leave the ground a few mo-
ments after his patrol and he was flying alone over the Forest of Dannevoux,
north of Verdun, when he saw four German scouts crossing the lines. Without
an instant's hesitation he attacked the formation, veered off, and attacked
again, sending one of the enemy to the earth. As the remaining Germans did
not retreat, Dowd continued to attack, and at the third dive was himself
shot down by an unlucky burst of machine-gun fiire.
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SERVICE RECORD
Sidney Rankin Drew, Jr., New York City.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 19 17.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 9, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 12, 19 17, to March 22,
19 1 8, Avord, Pau, Cazeaux,
G.D.E.
Breveted: November 17, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 31, March 25 to
May 19, 1918.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Killed in combat: May 19, 1918, near Arvilliers.
SIDNEY RANKIN DREW, Jr.
DREW was certainly one of the most interesting men in the Corps.
It was not easy at first for him to learn to fly, and during his Bleriot
training he had moments of bitter discouragement, but under his
gentle manners he possessed a determination which surmounted all difficul-
ties and made him, in the end, a very skillful and daring pilot. He had a per-
sonality of great individual charm and a kindly thoughtfulness which made
him universally liked. Although only twenty-six years of age, he had already
won recognition and success in his work, and had given up far more than
most of us to fight for the Allied cause. But Fate was to demand of him a still
greater sacrifice. Near Arvilliers, on the afternoon of the 19th of May, 1918,
he fell, in the midst of a furious combat against five Albatross.
A short and brilliant career, terminated by the most glorious of deaths,
leaving a heritage of memories which will be cherished forever by those who
loved him — such was the life of Sidney Drew.
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SERVICE RECORD
John Armstrong Drexel, Philadelphia, Penn-
sylvania.
Service in French Aviation:
Date oj enlistment: October 27, 19 1 6.
Aviation Schools: November 15, 1916, to May 10,
1917, Buc, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: March 6, 19 17 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette, May 10 to
June 15, 1917.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Major: August 14, 1917.
On duty in France, England, and America until
the Armistice.
JOHN ARMSTRONG DREXEL
DREXEL was a Bleriot pilot in 1909 in the early days of amateur fly-
ing, and once held the world's altitude record for that machine.
Nevertheless, when he went to the Bleriot school at Buc, as a mem-
ber of the Lafayette Flying Corps, it was under the status of eleve-pilote, and
he had to begin his training almost at the penguin stage. He soon convinced
the French moniteurs that he was master of the monoplane and was sent to
Pau for his work in aerial acrobacy. He went to the Escadrille Lafayette at
a time when the United States Air Service had just begun the organization
of its overseas headquarters on the boulevard Haussmann in Paris. After a
month at the Front, Drexel was set to Paris to act as liaison officer between
the French and American services. He was afterward commissioned Major,
and until the end of the war was on duty connected with the Air Service in
France, England, and America.
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SERVICE RECORD
Nathaniel Duffy, Buffalo, New York.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 24, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 12, 19 17, to April 23, 191 8,
Avord, Pau, Cazeaux, G.D.E.
Breveted: November 14, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 96, April 25 to
August 16, 191 8.
Final Rank: Sergent.
NATHANIEL DUFFY
4T Avord, Duffy was one of the aristocrats who resided in the village,
£-\ whither he and his especial chum, Bob Hanford, repaired for rest
JL JL and refreshment after sessions at the Bleriot field.
When Hanford was killed, every one's sympathy went out to Duffy, for
they had been very close and the loss was a heavy one; Duffy's friends even
thought at times that it had affected his health, which troubled him con-
stantly during the fall and winter of 191 7. In spite of this he carried on
gamely, and was finally assigned to Escadrille Spad 96, where during the
severe fighting of the war's final summer, he served bravely and faithfully.
Injured in a severe crash, and with his poor health still further undermined
by constant ground-strafing expeditions during the autumn, Duffy got his
release shortly after the Armistice and returned to America.
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SERVICE RECORD
William E. Dugan, Jr., Rochester, New York.
Previous Service: Foreign Legion (Infantry),
1915-16.
Wounded while serving with
the Legion.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 10, 19 16.
Aviation Schools: July 9, 1916, to March 26,
1917, Buc, Juvisy, Avord,
Cazeaux, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 20, 1916 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette, March 30,
1917, to February 18, 191 8.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: January 11,
1918.
At the Front: 103d Pursuit Squadron, February
18 to June 1, 1918.
Officer in Charge of Repair and Testing at
American Acceptance Park, Orly, June 1,
191 8, to Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
CITATION
Dugan, William, soldat de la i rc C ,e du
I70 e Regiment d'Infanterie
A l'attaque du i cr mai, 1916, s'est porte bravement a Tassaut des tranchees ennemis, et a
fait plusieurs prisonniers.
WILLIAM E. DUGAN, Jr.
THE noise of the Great War reached Dugan in the tropics of Central
America, where he was assistant manager of a banana plantation
owned by the United Fruit Company. He immediately gave up his
position there and went to France, enlisting in the Foreign Legion. He took
part in all of the battles of the Legion, including the great German offensive
at Verdun, 191 6, and passed unscathed through that horror of mud and shell-
fire. It was at this period that he gained his intimate knowledge of the cour-
age of men and of their powers of endurance, which was so great an inspira-
tion to him, serving him so well in later emergencies. He was a great admirer
of the Legion's old officers, and when asked for a story of infantry experi-
ences, it was never of his own exploits, but of those of the men who com-
manded his regiment, of their indifference to danger, and their resourceful-
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WILLIAM E. DUGAN, Jr.
ness under the most trying conditions. Of his comrades in the ranks, he
perhaps most admired Victor Chapman, both for his courage and for his
entire lack of those vices which so often fasten themselves upon soldiers in
war-time.
One day came Army Rumor, Series 566, Serial Number 9843, to the effect
that the 170th Infantry Regiment, called "Les Hirondelles de la Mort" was
rich in food, honor, and sympathetic officers. Dugan, with several of his
American comrades, decided to ask for a transfer. It was granted, but long
experience with the new outfit proved that the rumor was greatly exagger-
ated. Nothing was abundant but the usual body parasites, and the daily
ration of hard work. That he did his duty seems apparent from an army cita-
tion received for service rendered during the attack of May, 1916. During
this battle he investigated a segment of enemy trench line, and returned
safely, bringing with him several prisoners.
Dugan had great difficulty in effecting his transfer to Aviation. The officers
of the 170th could not be convinced that a corps of American airmen volun-
teers was in the process of being formed. Finally, a lucky wound sent him to
the rear, and while recovering from it at Hopital Auxiliaire 105 at Saint-
fitienne, Dr. Gros, working in his interests, arranged for his reenlistment in
the Air Service. In March, 191 7, he returned to the Front as a pilot, and a
month later gave his comrades in Spad 124 considerable anxiety when he
failed to return from an early morning patrol far into German territory.
There had been a lively battle during which he was attacked by two Alba-
tross who disabled his plane and chased him homeward. He landed at a Brit-
ish aerodrome, and until communication could be established with his squad-
ron, he was mourned as dead.
From 1914 until the 1st of June, 1918, he was constantly in active serv-
ice, with the exception of a short leave in America, whither he went to be
married. He brought his wife with him when he returned and continued fly-
ing and fighting as gamely as before. After his transfer to the American army
he was sent to the American Acceptance Park at Orly, as officer in charge of
repairs and testing. He held this post until the signing of the Armistice.
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SERVICE RECORD
Stuart Emmet Edgar, Nutley, New Jersey.
Previous Service: Norton-Harjes Ambulance,
1916-17.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 9, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: May 17 to December 8, 191 7,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 23, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille N. 158, December 11,
1917, to March 28, 1918.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: March 1, 191 8.
On duty at American Acceptance Park, Orly,
April 4 to May 30, 191 8.
At the Front: 103d Pursuit Squadron, May 30
to August 17, 1918.
Killed in line of duty: August 17, 19 18, near
Vaucouleurs.
STUART EMMET EDGAR
EDGAR came to France six
months before our declaration
of war and served in Section 7
of the Norton-Harjes Ambulance. In
May, 191 7, he enlisted in the Lafayette Flying Corps and took the Bleriot
training at Avord. With Tucker and Parker, he lived at the Hotel Turco,
and every evening the trio were to be seen at dinner, served by Suzanne, the
jolly daughter of the house. Their conversations were worthy of the atten-
tion of a listener. Tucker and Parker had tramped through the woods of
Central America, searched for hidden treasure in the Caribbean Sea, and
managed a theater on Washington Square. Edgar, with his keen mind and
unusual powers of observation, had seen many interesting sides of life while
doing newspaper work. He left a splendid record, both at Avord and at Pau.
His friends saw in him the making of an exceptional combat flyer, but on
August 17 he met his death in one of those accidents which seem inevitable
in aviation. He was leaving the field to make a patrol, when suddenly, at a
height of only four hundred feet, his motor stopped dead, the machine lost
speed, and spun to the ground, killing him instantly. The accident cost us a
comrade who had won universal liking and respect, and our country a splen-
did officer. He lies on a hillside in Lorraine — in worthy company, for beside
him sleeps Raoul Lufbery.
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SERVICE RECORD
Donald Herbert Eldredge, South Bend, In-
diana.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 13, 19 1 7.
Aviation Schools: June 20, 1917, to February 20,
1918, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: December 3, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 76, February 24
to June 10, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant, June 17, 1918.
At the Front: Attached to the French Squadron
Spad 76, June 17, 1918, to
Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
CITATION
Au Q.G., le6juillet, 1918
Le General Commandant le 2 C Corps d'Ar-
mee cite a TOrdre du Corps d'Armee:
Eldredge, Donald, M fe 12259, Sergent au
i cr Regiment Etranger detache a
l'Escadrille 76
Excellent pilote, adroit et tres conscien-
cieux. Le 27 mai, pour porter secours a un
de nos avions de reglage, n'a pas hesite a se jeter sur huit monoplaces ennemis. Par son
courage et son sang-froid a perm is a son chef de patrouille d'abattre Pun d'eux.
(Signe) Philipot
DONALD HERBERT ELDREDGE
ELDREDGE was one of the last men trained on Bleriot at Avord.
With his friend Jim McMillen, he belonged to the exclusive Farges
set: aristocrats who bicycled back and forth to work at the Bleriot
piste. Beneath his quiet and pleasant manner Eldredge conceals a taut sys-
tem of nerves, and like many highly strung men, he developed into a skillful
and daring pilot. His record throughout the schools was excellent. On Febru-
ary 24, 1918, he went to the Front, assigned to the Escadrille Spad 76. Trans-
ferring to the United States Air Service in June, he had the pleasure of being
returned to his old French squadron, where he gave a good account of him-
self through the severe fighting of 1918 until the end of the war.
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SERVICE RECORD
Dinsmore Ely, Winnetka, Illinois.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 13, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: July 20, 1917, to February 20,
191 8, Avord, Tours, Pau,
Cazeaux, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 25, 19 17 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 102, February 24
to April 1, 1 91 8.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant: April 5, 1918.
Killed in line of duty: April 21, 19 18.
DINSMORE ELY
AT Tours, where he was bre-
L\ veted on August 22, 191 7, Ely
JL JL left behind him the reputa-
tion of an excellent pilot and a really
brilliant student of the technical side
of aviation. Trained in engineering at
the Massachusetts Institute of Tech-
nology, he found aerodynamics and
the complexities of motors a fascinating study, and often coached his less-
gifted comrades in the anxious periods before technical examinations. Unlike
the majority of scientific aviators, Ely loved to fly, and at Pau had oppor-
tunity to put all his theories to the test. Only the cream of the American
pilots were sent to the School of Aerial Gunnery at Cazeaux, and Ely was
among these. In spite of old machines fit for nothing but straight flying, he
continued to perfect himself in acrobatics ; on one occasion, when doing a loop,
the wings of his Nieuport were thrown out of adjustment and only the
remarkable skill and coolness of the pilot averted a fatal accident.
On February 24, 191 8, Ely was sent to the Front, to the Escadrille Spad 102,
then operating in the Toul Sector. He served faithfully with this unit until
April 3, when he was transferred to the Air Service, with the rank of Second
Lieutenant. On April 21, while flying a Spad at Villacoublay, he lost his life
in an accident.
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SERVICE RECORD
Robert Grimshaw Eoff, Christiansburg, Vir-
ginia.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 191 7.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 14, 19 17.
Aviation Schools: August 2, 1917, to January- 20,
1918, Avord, Tours, Pau,
G.D.E.
Breveted: October 27, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille N. 157, January 24 to
March 27, 191 8.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant: June 22,
1918.
Promoted First Lieutenant: November 6, 1918.
On duty at American Acceptance Park, Orly,
June 29 to August 23, 1918.
At the Front: 95th Pursuit Squadron, August
23, 1918, to Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
CITATION
Le 30 mars, 191 8
Le General Commandant la IV C Armee
cite a TOrdre de la Division d'Infanterie, le militaire dont le nom suit:
Caporal Eoff, Robert, M ,c 46663, du i cr Regiment de la Legion fitrangere,
detache a rEscadrille N. 157
Pilote plein d'allant. A engage de 22 mars, I9i8,un combat aerien au cours duquel l'avion
qu'il attaquait fut abattu.
GOURAUD
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ROBERT GRIMSHAW EOFF
EOFF came to the Lafayette Flying Corps from the American Ambu-
lance and was breveted at Tours, October 27, 191 7. On January 24,
1 91 8, after passing through Pau with flying colors, he was sent to the
Escadrille N. 157, and served faithfully with the French until his transfer to
the United States Air Service in the early summer. Of his service with the
American army, let him tell in his own words:
"Since the censorship has been lifted, I can give you a short outline of
what I have done since I left Orly. Just as the big drive started (July 18,
1 91 8) I got orders to join the First Pursuit Group and found them in a village
near Coulommiers, south of Chateau-Thierry. It was a hot front, as you can
imagine, and we had heavy odds to face in the Boche Aviation ... a lot of
fun all the same, and I 'm glad I saw it through. The first of September we
were ordered to Rembercourt, fourteen miles north of Bar-le-Duc, on the
road to Verdun — to make the attack on the Saint-Mihiel Salient — a walk-
over, so to speak. On September 26 the attack began between the Meuse
and the Argonne — interesting to fly over the same territory I had known
so well in Ambulance days. The country is very hilly, resembling our own
country (Virginia), and it was a hard push all the way through. Our groupe
undertook the very low flying — hardly agreeable but exciting at times . . .
constantly subjected to attack from above. Our efforts were directed against
enemy observation planes and balloons. . . . Now that it is over, the men
here expect to be sent home soon."
EofPs record is one in which those who know him may take pride, a story
of quiet devotion to duty, of continuous and faithful service at the Front
from the day of his first patrol to the close of hostilities.
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SERVICE RECORD
Edwin Bradley Fairchild, Manila, Philippine
Islands.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 27, 1917.
Aviation Schools: August 2, 1917, to January 14,
191 8, Avord, Tours, Pau,
G.D.E.
Breveted: September 29, 19 17 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 159, January 16,
19 1 8, to Armistice.
Final Rank: Adjudant.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with two Palms and two Stars.
CITATIONS
12 septembre, 191 8
Le Chef d'Escadrons Duseigneur, Comman-
dant PEscadre de Combat N° 2, cite a
TOrdre de TEscadre :
Fairchild, Edwin Bradley, Sergent au 2 C
fitranger, detache comme pilote a PEs-
cadrille, Spa. 159
Engage volontaire dans Tarmee francaise
a toujours fait preuve du plus beau courage.
Pilote de chasse depuis huit mois en Esca-
drille, a accompli avec la plus stricte ex-
actitude et une haute conception du devoir toutes les missions qui lui ont ete confiees.
A livre.de nombreux combats a maintes reprises, a attaque les troupes a terre.
7 novembre, 1918
Le General Commandant en Chef cite a TOrdre de TArmee:
Fairchild, Edwin Bradley (active), Sergent au i cr Regiment de la Legion £trangere,
Pilote Aviateur
Pilote plein d'ardeur, recherchant toute occasion de se battre. Le . . . a incendie un Drachen
(i** victoire). Une Citation.
17 novembre , 191 8
Fairchild, Edwin Bradley, M te 12375, Sergent Pilote a TEscadrille 159
Engage volontaire Americain, pilote remarquable, fait montre en toute occasion d'un allant
et d'un courage des plus grands eloges. Volontaire pour les missions les plus perilleuses, a
pris part a de nombreux engagements de patrouille ou par deux fois il a degage des camarades.
25 novembre, 191 8
Le General Commandant en Chef cite a TOrdre de TArmee:
Fairchild, Edwin Bradley (active), Sergent au i cr Regiment de la Legion fitrangere,
Pilote Aviateur
Pilote remarquable d'enthousiasme, d'entrain, et de courage. N'a cesse de livrer de durs
combats. Le 23 octobre, 191 8, a attaque une patrouille ennemie, descendu desempare, a
reussi par son energie a ramener son appareil dans nos lignes ou il s'est ecrase.
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EDWIN BRADLEY FAIRCHILD
THE outbreak of the war found Fairchild in Germany. After various
adventures, including that of being taken for a spy, he gave up his
studies there and went to France where he enlisted as an ambulance
driver. In common with many other ambulance men his service gave him the
desire for more active duty, and when his period of enlistment had expired
he joined the Lafayette Corps. When ready for the Front he was sent to the
French Squadron Spad 159, which took an important part in all of the heavi-
est fighting of 191 8, suffering very heavy casualties. Nothing tries a man
more than to see his comrades killed on every side of him. Fairchild lost
many of his friends in the last summer of the war, but he kept a firm hold on
his nerve despite the fact that he himself had several very narrow escapes
from death. He gained a wide experience in all phases of pursuit work, and
was known throughout his groupe as a skillful and daring pilot.
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SERVICE RECORD
Clarence H. Faith, Nahant, Massachusetts.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1917.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 25, 1917.
Aviation Schools: July 17, 1 91 7, to May 9, 191 8,
Avord, Juvisy, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 28, 1917 (Caudron).
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant, May 6, 191 8.
Ferry Pilot, American Acceptance Park, Orly,
May 13 to June 9, 1918.
At the Front: 103d Pursuit Squadron, June 9,
1918, to Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre , with Star (Ambulance).
CITATIONS
17 mai, 191 7
Le General Commandant en Chef de la
IV e Armee cite a TOrdre de TArmee:
Clarence H. Faith
Ambulancier americain, engage volon-
taire, possedant les plus belles qualites de
courage et d'esprit de sacrifice. A fait epreuve
d'un devoument de tout premier ordre dans
raccomplissement de ses missions, pendant un
bombardement continuelle de trente heures.
(Signe) Gouraud
CLARENCE H. FAITH
FAITH enlisted in the Lafayette Flying Corps on May 25, 1917, after
a term of service in the Ambulance — service which won him the
Croix de Guerre. Breveted on Caudron at Juvisy, October 28, he did
not get to the G.D.E. until February 28, 191 8, when the French were holding
Americans there with a view to their transfer to the American army. On
May 6, Faith was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Air Service, and
a month later was assigned to the 103d Pursuit Squadron. With this unit
he served honorably until the close of hostilities; it is regrettable that the
files of the Lafayette Flying Corps contain no detailed account of his adven-
tures through the heavy fighting of 191 8.
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SERVICE RECORD
Cedric Gerald Faunt LeRoy, Chicago, Illinois.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 13, 1917.
Aviation Schools: July 20 to November 2, 191 7, Avord, Tours, Pau.
Breveted: September 29, 19 17 (Caudron).
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: February 5, 1918.
Promoted Captain, October 10, 191 8.
Promoted Major, March 19, 19 19.
Chief Receptionnaire American A.I.C. Issoudun, February 5 to April 2, 19 18.
Officer in Charge of Acceptance and Inspection Division, A.A.P., Orly, April 4 to October 24, 191 8.
At the Front: 94th Pursuit Squadron, October 25, 19 18, to Armistice.
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CEDRIC GERALD FAUNT LeROY
IN the days when plotting was the fashion, the old kings of France had in
their households an important official known as the "taster," whose
duty it was to sample every dish destined for the royal table. The Air
Service possessed a similar official, called the "tester," whose occupation was
equally precarious. As planes were delivered from the factories it was his duty
to take each one up for a trial flight before other pilots, in the schools or at the
Front, were allowed to fly it. This was Faunt LeRoy's duty.
With his exceptional mechanical knowledge and delicacy of touch in the
air, he made an excellent record in the schools, and his ability was so clearly
demonstrated that despite his anxiety to get to the Front after obtaining his
brevet, the French sent him to Issoudun, where the Americans were in urgent
need of a pilot with a thorough knowledge of motors. In January, 191 8, he was
commissioned in the United States Air Service, and appointed to the. post
of Receptionnaire, to test all new aeroplanes as received from the factories.
While his former comrades were gaining glory in combat over the lines,
Faunt LeRoy was forced to remain in the rear, carrying on his monotonous
and dangerous task. His record speaks for itself; he has supervised the ac-
ceptance of over two thousand French planes, and made more than thirty-
five hundred test flights without a serious accident. For the painstaking care
and energy with which his work has been performed, Faunt LeRoy has been
proposed for the D.S.M., a distinction he has fully earned.
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SERVICE RECORD
Fearchar Ian Ferguson, New York City.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 3, 1 917.
Aviation Schools: June 10, 1917, to January 8,
1918, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 17, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 96, January 10,
19 1 8, to Armistice.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre ; with Palm.
FEARCHAR IAN FERGUSON
EVERY Lafayette man has
known the sorrow of losing
comrades in the war, but
none perhaps to such an extent as
Ferguson. From the beginning at
Avord, his special pals were Bob
Hanford, Cy Chamberlain, Vernie
Booth, and Schuyler Lee. Hanford
was killed at Chateauroux while do-
ing his brevet; Chamberlain was shot down in combat in June, 1918; Booth
and Lee, who were with Ferguson in Escadrille Spad 96, both died heroic
deaths during the heaviest fighting of the summer. The only survivor of this
group, Ferguson, has left behind him a splendid record and has avenged
his comrades in many a bitter combat.
On April 12, near Montdidier, Ferguson had a fight which came very
near being his last. He was patrolling about ten kilometers within the Ger-
man lines, with Booth and several French comrades, when he perceived
above his head a flight of eight Albatross. The others did not see the Ger-
mans and Ferguson became so interested in watching them that he lost his
patrol. There was a battle royal when the eight Boches dove down on him,
and it was only by luck and skillful maneuvering that he escaped with his
life. Forty-five minutes later he landed on his aerodrome with twenty-eight
bullet holes through his machine. Ferguson was unhurt, but his Spad had
made its last flight.
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SERVICE RECORD
Christopher W. Ford, New York City.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 9, 19 1 7.
Aviation Schools: May 17 to November 6, 1917,
Avord, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 6, 19 17 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille, Lafayette, November 8,
1917, to February 18, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent,
Service in U.S.Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant.
Promoted Captain, November 12, 1918.
Promoted Major, May 1, 19 19.
At the Front: 103d Pursuit Squadron, February
18 to October 15, 1918.
Prisoner in Germany: October 15, 1918, to Ar-
mistice.
Decorations:
Distinguished Service Cross.
Croix de Guerre, with Palm and Star.
CITATIONS
The Distinguished Service Cross is awarded to
Captain Christopher W. Ford, A.S., 103d Aero Pursuit Squadron
For repeated acts of extraordinary heroism in action near Rheims, France, March 27, 1918,
and near Armentieres, France, May 21, 1918. Near Rheims on March 27, Captain Ford,
while on patrol duty with two other pilots, led his formation in an attack on eight enemy
planes. After twenty minutes of fighting, the American formation shot down three German
machines, of which one was destroyed by this officer. Near Armentieres, on May 21, he again
led a patrol of six planes in attacking twenty enemy aircraft. The attack resulted in ten indi-
vidual combats. Captain Ford shot down one hostile plane and with his patrol routed the others.
By command of General Pershing
11 avril, 1918
Le General Commandant la IV C Armee cite a TOrdre du 3*™* Corps d'Armee:
Lieutenant Ford, Christophe William, de rEscadrille Lafayette (G.C. 21)
Jeune pilote nouvellement arrive sur le front, se revele comme chasseur courageux et
adroit. A abattu avec deux des ses camarades un avion ennemi le 27 mars.
Citation a VOrdre de V Armee : 4Juin, 1918
Ford, Christopher W., Pilote a TEscadrille Americaine 103
A abattu le . . . son deuxieme avion ennemi.
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CHRISTOPHER W. FORD
THE thirty-eighth and last American to join the Escadrille Lafayette,
while it was still a French unit, was Christopher Ford, of New York
City. His career as an airman dates from the spring of 1916, when he
was flying an old Wright "pusher," Model B, at the Stinson Flying School,
San Antonio, Texas. On April 19, 1916, he received civilian brevet, 462, and
thus equipped, came to France to
join the Lafayette Flying Corps. A
civilian brevet, however, is of little use
to a pilot candidate for military avi-
ation, and Ford had to pass through
the regular routine: Bleriot, Caudron
G. 3, Nieuport, Spad, with a short
period of Sopwith training thrown in
for good measure. Evidently, the au-
thorities were anxious that he should
wholly forget his Wright "pusher"
technique. He convinced them that
he had, and was sent to Spad 124,
which was then on the Aisne Sector,
occupying hangars at Chaudun. This
was just at the close of the local of-
fensive which resulted in the capture
of 1 1,000 German prisoners and im-
portant tactical gains for the French,
in the Chemin des Dames area.
Ford, better than most of us, is in
a position to speak with knowledge of
the importance which paper work
plays in the affairs of fledgling avi-
ators; for it was owing to a mistake Christopher ford
made in his own paper record at
Avord, that he was sent, direct from this school, to G.D.E. without having
had the usual course of acrobacy at Pau. He was not able to overcome
this really serious handicap at Plessis-Belleville, and so went to the Front
only partially equipped for his work as a combat pilot. To make matters
worse, he started flying over the lines at once, just after the number of
enemy pursuit squadrons had been increased to meet the French concen-
trations. He had never done a vrille (spinning nose-dive) and had to sub-
mit to a mild hazing at the hands of the other pilots, who told of the ease
of falling into one during a combat, and of the difficulty of pulling out
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CHRISTOPHER W. FORD
with a German sitting on one's tail, firing with annoying deliberation and
persistency.
He learned his combat tactics in the best of all schools, although it is some-
times the harshest. During his earliest combats he sometimes practiced acro-
bacy of weird and unheard-of kinds, and had to level out of it as best he could
under very trying circumstances. But he kept at it, and coming home from
patrol, he would chase and be chased by imaginary Boches, while losing
height over the aerodrome. He made rapid progress, and at last felt justified
in adopting, as his individual insignia, a weird device of painted lightning in
French tri-color. This he carried on the wings and fuselage of his Spad, and
so boldly displayed that one could recognize his machine in the air, from a
distance of a thousand meters.
It is not possible to give here a detailed account of his fine service record.
He was first cited by the Commandant of the Air Forces of the Fourth French
Army for contributing to the destruction of an enemy machine on March 27,
1918. On that date, with two of his comrades, he attacked a formation of
three enemy two-seaters and five single-seaters. Although his gun jammed
at the beginning of the battle, leaving him helpless to defend himself, he kept
directly above his two flying partners, offering them the finest kind of pro-
tection, repeatedly diving upon enemy machines and driving them away by
making a brave show of aggressiveness. This combat was extraordinary in
that it lasted for more than half an hour; and it resulted in the destruction of
three German single-seaters. Ford's part in it was of a piece with all of his
service in France.
He served with Spad 124 (later the 103d Pursuit Squadron) on the Aisne,
in Champagne, Flanders, at Saint-Mihiel, the Argonne Forest. On October
15, 1918, while leading an offensive patrol, his motor was badly damaged by
machine-gun fire from the ground, forcing him to land in enemy territory
south of Buzancy. On November 20, he, together with other prisoners in
the German prison camp at Villingen, decided to take the matter of transfer
into their own hands, and so walked one hundred kilometers to the frontier.
They reached Colmar just as the French were entering the town from the
other side.
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SERVICE RECORD
Henry Forster, Milton, Massachusetts.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 13, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 20, 1917, to January 31,
1918, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 31, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille C. 74, February 1 to
April 10, 1918.
Escadrille Spad 102, April 10 to
April 24, 1918.
Escadrille Br. 224, April 24 to
May 3, 1918.
Escadrille Spad 15, June 1 to Au-
gust 2, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Naval Aviation:
Commissioned Ensign: July 19, 191 8.
HENRY FORSTER
AS an eleve-pilote Forster came
/- \ close to being a genuine poilu.
JL JL Like all of us at Avord, he
was a second-class soldier in the
French army, but unlike his com-
rades, it gave him pleasure to act and look and think the part an fond.
Puttees, fatigue caps, boots, musettes, and uniforms were issued to us
by the army; our part, according to Forster, was to make use of these
articles of equipment. No pilot's swank for him! More than one of us,
on arriving at the Quai d'Orsay, has seen trudging sturdily through the
crowd ahead, a vaguely familiar figure, clad in faded horizon blue, with frayed
puttees and hobnailed boots. A disreputable bonnet de police, cocked jaunt-
ily on one side, and a pair of musettes, from which protruded a loaf of war
bread and the neck of a bottle of pinard, completed the picture. It was
Forster, headed in all probability for the Hotel Maurice.
As a pilot Forster was very steady and reliable; his Bleriot work was excel-
lent and he left enviable notes at Pau. From the G.D.E. he was sent with
Dudley Tucker to the Spad 74, and did good work through the heavy fight-
ing of the summer of 1918 until his transfer to the American Navy. His
experiences as a naval aviator were varied : nearly killed on his first sortie
in a Sopwith seaplane, piloting D.H. 9 bombing machines, and ferrying
Capronis from Italy.
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SERVICE RECORD
Eric A. Fowler, New York City.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1917.
Service in French Aviation:
Date oj enlistment: June 9, 19 17.
Aviation Schools: June 20 to November 27, 1917,
Tours Avord, Pau.
Breveted: October 21, 191 7 (Caudron).
Killed in line of duty: At Pau, November 27, 191 7.
ERIC A. FOWLER
VOLUNTEERING from the ranks of the American Ambulance, Eric
Fowler was breveted on Caudron at Tours and went to Avord for
advanced training on Nieuport. About the middle of November,
1917, he arrived at Pau, and his anxiety to get to the Front is shown by the
fact that in spite of wretched flying weather, he had finished everything but
vol de precision by the 27th of the month. On the afternoon of that day he was
making his last flight preparatory to leaving for the G.D.E. The cause of
the accident has never been ascertained — it was one of those mysterious
fatalities for which no explanation exists — but suddenly, as he swept over
the field at a height of seven hundred feet, his machine faltered, lost speed,
and plunged headlong to the ground, killing Fowler instantly. France lost in
him a pilot whose only desire was to fly and fight, and his friends were left to
mourn a comrade whose brave and modest character had endeared him to
both Americans and French. Fowler gave his life in the performance of duty
as truly as though he had been shot down in combat over the lines.
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SERVICE RECORD
Edmond Charles Clinton Genet, Ossin-
ing, New York.
Previous Service: February 3, 1915, to May
24, 1916, Foreign Legion (Infantry).
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 24, 1916.
Aviation Schools: June 5, 1916, to January
18, 1917, Buc, Pau,
Cazeaux, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 3, 19 16 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette, January
19 to April 16, 1917.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Wounded in combat: March 19, 19 17.
Killed in line of duty: April 16, 1917, north
of Montescourt
(Aisne).
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with two Palms.
CITATIONS
Citation a VOrdre de TArm'ee:
Genet, Edmond, Caporal a PEsca-
drille 124
Citoyen americain engage au service
de la France. A fait preuve des plus
belles qualites d'ardeur et de devoument,
livrant des combats aeriens des son arrivee a rescadrille, effectuant des reconnaissance a basse
altitude, et se depensant sans compter.
Le 19 mars, 191 7, a ete blesse au cours d'un combat contre deux avions ennemis et a refuse
d'interrompre son service.
Groupe des Armees du Nord.
Genet, Edmond Charles Clinton, Sergent a TEscadnlle Lafayette, N. 124
Pilote courageux et devoue, a trouve, le 16 avril, 191 7, une mort glorieuse. A termine
I'enonce de ses dernieres volontes en disant: " Vive la France toujours."
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EDMOND CHARLES CLINTON GENET
EDMOND GEN&T was the great-great-grandson of Citizen Genet,
whom the Revolutionary Government in France sent as Ambassador
to America in 1793. It was but natural, therefore, that he should be
eager to join with the other American volunteers who had already enlisted in
the French Foreign Legion. It was impossible for him to do this in any reg-
ular way, for he was already bound to service in the United States Navy.
After much anxious thought he de-
cided upon a bold move. Although
he was only eighteen, he went to the
French Consul in New York where he
gave his age as twenty-one, secured a
passport, and without obtaining his
release from the navy, sailed for
France for the purpose of enlisting
in the French army. Technically,
perhaps, his act may be called de-
sertion, but it was desertion with a
noble purpose, from a safe and easy
berth at home to a post of danger in
the trenches on the Western Front.
He enlisted in the Legion on Feb-
ruary 3, 1915, less than a week after
his arrival in France, and after two
months of training was sent to the
Front. Throughout his career as an
infantryman he gained the praise
both of his officers and of his fellow
legionnaires by his boyish enthusiasm
for the most dangerous tasks, and
GENfix as a legionnaire, april. 1916 his ^regard for his own safety. Paul
Rockwell, himself a former member
of the Legion, wrote as follows of Genet's part in the Champagne offensive of
September and October, 191 5:
"When his battalion attacked the Germans in the Bois Sabot, he was
stunned and thrown into a shell-hole by the explosion of a large-caliber shell.
When he recovered his senses, little Genet, nothing daunted, went bravely
on to the assault in the ranks of a regiment of Zouaves which had advanced
in support of the Legion. Three days later he was able to rejoin his comrades
who were mourning him as dead."
Another fellow legionnaire spoke of him as "the bravest boy I know."
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EDMOND CHARLES CLINTON GENET
Writing to Genet's mother of the Champagne battle he said : " In the advance
of September 28 [1915] Genet kept on until only one man in his company was
left beside himself. The others were either shot or had taken refuge in the
trenches. It was only then that the two men decided to retreat. His compan-
ion got rattled and was killed. Genet owes his escape to his own coolness and
good judgment. As all of their officers were shot, he probably won't be decor-
ated, but the regimental flag receives the fourragere of the Croix de Guerre for
the action in which he took so gallant a part."
Genet's own account of the battle, written in letters from the trenches, is
terribly vivid and gives a clear picture of the reaction of this brave little fel-
low to the horrors of modern warfare. He was never daunted even when
living constantly in the midst of suffering and death, and after fifteen months
in the Legion, he was as serious as ever in his purpose to serve France to the
end.
From the day of his enlistment, however, his thoughts had turned toward
aviation as the branch of war service nearest his heart's desire. He had
sailed for France on January 20, 1915, on the French liner Rochambeau. By
an odd coincidence, Norman Prince was a passenger on the same boat. Genet
learned from him of his plans, then still very indefinite, for organizing a
squadron of American volunteers. When at last the consent of the French
Government was won and the Escadrille Americaine placed on the Front,
Genet was permitted to transfer to the Aviation Service. He was exuberantly
happy in his new work. "This is what one can call the real thing!" he said, in
writing of it. "This is sport with all the fascination and excitement and sport-
ing chances any live fellow could ever wish for." With his aeroplane he was
like a child with a new toy. He marveled at its speed, its delicate mechanism,
and after his first bad crash, its wayward and willful desire for self-destruc-
tion. He made good progress and was sent to the Escadrille Lafayette on
January 19, 1917. A few days later he wrote to his mother: " I 've got a Nieu-
port of my own now, one which is really new, and to-morrow I go over the
lines with the escadrille for the first time. . . . We have a very pleasant cap-
tain, and our lieutenant, de Laage, is a dandy fellow. ... It's a big relief to
me to be out here at last, dear mother. The rumble of the big guns this morn-
ing which roused me from beneath my warm covering of four big blankets
(for it's right cold here and we've snow all over the ground) was n't new music
to my ears. It seemed like old times, the roar of old comrades. . . . Our living-
room, where we are most of the time when off duty, is a mighty attractive
little den. We have covered all the walls and ceiling with corrugated card-
board strips (smooth side outside) over the rough boards, and on this in vari-
ous places I have drawn and painted vivid scenes of aerial combats between
French and German machines. We have a huge painting of an Indian head,
the symbol of the escadrille, which is also painted on each of our machines.
The Indian's mouth is open as though he was shouting his terrible war-cry
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EDMOND CHARLES CLINTON GEN^T
in defiance of his enemies, and he looks very warlike indeed. It's quite an
appropriate symbol for the escadrille, being something genuinely American."
Several weeks later Genet was wounded in the face by a bullet during the
combat in which James McConnell was killed. And on April 16, 1917, he
himself was shot down, probably by anti-aircraft fire, although the precise
cause of his death can never be known. The following account of his last flight
is taken from a letter written by Walter Lovell, of the Lafayette Squadron :
GENET'S FUNERAL AT HAM
"It seems that I am destined always to announce to you bad news. This
time it is dear little Genet who is dead. He has been killed this afternoon fly-
ing in the company of Lufbery. On account of the clouds they flew low. The
special German batteries were firing at them continuously. Suddenly Luf-
bery noticed that Genet had made a half-turn, as if going back. He tried to
follow, but lost sight of him in the clouds. He was very much surprised upon
his return to the camp to see that Edmond had not returned. A few minutes
later we received by telephone the news that Genet had fallen five kilometers
within our lines. Lieutenant de Laage, Lufbery, Haviland, and I took the
light motor and rushed to the relief station. There we found his body. He had
been instantly killed. I saw the machine later and I have never seen so com-
plete a wreck. He had fallen in the middle of the road with the motor at full
speed, which proves that the German shell had killed him or rendered him
unconscious. I had flown with him in the morning very early, and in the
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EDMOND CHARLES CLINTON GEN£T
afternoon we were to have flown together, but as he seemed tired I advised
him not to fly and went up with Thaw. When I returned I learned that he
had gone with Lufbery. Haviland, whose avion was disabled, had tried to
borrow Genet's Nieuport to fly in his place, but Edmond refused, insisting
that he felt all right, and he flew — to his death. For myself, I have lost a
very dear friend and a courageous comrade of combat. The Squadron has lost
one of the most conscientious pilots that it has ever had or ever will have.
Edmond fell a few hundred meters from the spot where Mac [James McCon-
nell] fell four weeks ago. He will be buried at Ham to-morrow. I am happy in
one thing, and that is that he learned yesterday evening that his citation is
now official, and that the German avion with which he had fought when
McConnell was killed has been compelled to land on French soil and that
its crew have been made prisoners."
Genet was the first American to be killed after the United States declared
war upon Germany. He was buried in the little military cemetery at Ham
in the midst of a tempest of snow, the ceremony impressive in its simplicity.
And so ended the career of this brave-spirited boy whom Captain Thenault
called "the Benjamin of the Escadrille Lafayette," and who served his own
country and France with a purity of purpose which shall never be forgotten.
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SERVICE RECORD
Joseph Francis Gill, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 10, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: June 15, 191 7, to February,
1918, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: December 4, 191 7 (Caudron).
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant: March 22,
1918.
Assigned to French Squadron Spa. 471 (defense
of Paris), June 8 to July 17, 1918.
On duty, American Acceptance Park, Orly,
June 17 to August 28, 191 8.
JOSEPH FRANCIS GILL
GILL was breveted on Caudron at Avord, and after taking the chasse
course at Pau, was detained a long time at the G.D.E., before his
transfer to the American army. He was then attached to the French
Squadron, Spad 471, on duty at Le Bourget for the defense of Paris, and
afterward at the American Acceptance Park at Orly. On August 28 he was
injured in an accident which kept him from further service until after the
close of the war.
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SERVICE RECORD
Clarence M. Glover, New York City.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 9, 1917.
Avitaion Schools: September 16, 191 7, to April,
19 1 8, Avord, Pau, Cazeaux,
G.D.E.
Breveted: December 19, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 78, July 1, 191 8,
to Armistice.
Final Rank: Set gent.
CLARENCE M. GLOVER
GLOVER was one of the last, if not the last, of the Lafayette men to
be trained in the French schools. He did not get his brevet until
December 19, 1917, and did not arrive at the G.D.E. until April 2
of the following year. On July 1, 191 8, he was assigned to Escadrille Spad 78,
where he served honorably until the time of the Armistice.
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SERVICE RECORD
Charles G. Grey, Chicago, Illinois.
Service in French Aviation: •
Date of enlistment: June 17, 1917.
Aviation Schools: July 19 to November 24, 1917,
Avord, Juvisy, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 26, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 93, November 26,
1917, to March 13, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: March 21, 1918.
Promoted Captain: November 6, 19 18.
March 21 to August 1, 191 8, Aeroplane Tester
at Le Bourget and American Acceptance
Park, Orly.
At the Front: 213th Pursuit Squadron, August 1,
19 1 8, to Armistice.
Decorations:
Distinguished Service Cross.
CITATION
G.H.Q., J.E.F., December 10, 1918
Captain Charles G. Grey, A.S. 213th Aero
Squadron No. 1961
For extraordinary heroism in action near
Montmedy, France, 4 November, 1918. While leading a patrol of three machines, Captain
Grey observed a formation of our bombing planes hard-pressed by twelve of the enemy.
He attacked the leading enemy machine without hesitation, thereby attracting the enemy's
fire and allowing the bombing machines to escape undamaged.
CHARLES G. GREY
CHARLES G. GREY went to the old French school at Juvisy and
thence the usual route to Plessis. He spent a few months of bad
weather with G.C. 12 before being taken into the American army
as First Lieutenant, in March, 191 8. He was placed in charge of the Nieuport
hangars at the American Acceptance Park at Orly, where he remained until
August, 1918. In that month he was assigned to the 213th American Squad-
ron as Flight Commander, and served faithfully during the Saint-Mihiel and
Meuse-Argonne drives, for which service he was made a Captain.
Among his exploits was the successful bombing of a German balloon and
a German ammunition dump with light Spad bombs. He has four official
victories to his credit and has won the D.S.C.
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SERVICE RECORD
Norman Grieb, Scarsdalc, New York.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 13, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 19 to August 28, 1917,
Avord.
Died at Bourges: August 28, 191 7.
Final Rank: Soldat de deuxieme classe.
NORMAN GRIEB
THERE are a few Lafayette men, students at Avord in June and July,
1917, who remember a quiet and serious little fellow in the penguin
class — Norman Grieb. He lived at Farges, came daily to work
under the Adjudant Terrier, and returned, alone as often as not, to his lodg-
ings. His keen desire to learn was obvious to everyone, but though he had a
friendly smile and a pleasant manner, it was evident that he did not like
crowds and preferred to make friends slowly. Then, one day, before we had
really had an opportunity to know him, the news came that he had been run
over and seriously injured by a motor-car. His comrades visited him as often
as possible at the hospital in Bourges, where he lay seemingly on the road
to recovery. But the injury to his chest was graver than the doctors had
supposed, and on August 28 we were saddened to learn that he was dead —
before he could prove his mettle at the Front.
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SERVICE RECORD
James Murray Grier, Philadelphia, Pennsyl-
vania.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 191 7.
Service in French Aviation :
Date of enlistment: August I, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: August 2, 1917, to April 10,
191 8, Avord, Tours, Pau,
G.D.E.
Breveted: January 6, 191 8 (Caudron).
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Naval Aviation:
Commissioned Ensign: April 10, 191 8.
Instructor at Lake Bolsena, Italy, June 19 to
September 28, 191 8.
At the Front: U.S. Naval Air Station, Porto
Corsini, Italy, September 28 to
October 28, 19 18.
Assigned to 341st Royal Marine
Air Squadron (Italian), Octo-
ber 28, 19 1 8, to Armistice.
JAMES MURRAY GRIER
GRIER was breveted at Tours on January 6, 191 8 — one of the last
American volunteers to go through the schools. Finishing at Pau on
February 22, he was transferred to the Navy early in April, before
he had been assigned to a squadron on the Front. After courses in the naval
flying schools, he served for a time as instructor at Lake Bolsena, Italy; was
sent to Porto Corsini to join a chasse squadron, and later to Venice, where he
served in the 341st Italian Squadron, equipped with Henriot Type D. 1
planes. Grier has experienced all the different forms of excitement that naval
flying has to offer — escorting convoys, anti-submarine patrols, and daylight
bombing raids on Pola, across the Adriatic. Detailed accounts of these ad-
ventures would be of great interest, but unfortunately none are at hand.
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SERVICE RECORD
Andre Gundelach, Chicago, Illinois.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: March 20, 1917.
Aviation Schools: March 24 to July 10, 191 7,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: May 31, 191 7 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrillc Spad 95, July 12 to
September 8, 191 7.
Escadrillc Sop. in, September
24 to December 21, 191 7.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: November 9,
1917.
On duty at 7th A.I.C., Clermont-Ferrand,
January 3 to May 18, 1918.
At the Front: 96th Day Bombing Squadron,
May 23 to September 12, 19 18.
Killed in combat: September 12, 191 8 (Saint-
Mihiel Sector).
Decorations:
Distinguished Service Cross.
Croix de Guerre^ with Palm.
CITATIONS
VI C Arm£e, £tat-MajOr. 13 septembre, 1917
Citation a VOrdre de VArmee :
Gundelach, Andre (sujet americain), Caporal d'Infanterie, Escadrille N. 95
Sujet americain, engage volontaire dans PArmee Francaise depuis mars, 191 7.
Pilote plein d'audace et d'entrain. Le 4 septembre, 191 7, a abattu en flammes un avion
ennemi.
(Signe) Maistre
G.H.Q., A.E.F., 1918
The Distinguished Service Cross is awarded to
First Lieutenant Andr£ Gundelach
For extraordinary heroism in action near Buxieres, France, September 12, 1918. Lieutenant
Gundelach with Second Lieutenant Pennington H. Way, Observer, volunteered for a haz-
ardous mission to bomb concentrations of enemy troops. They successfully bombed their
objective, but while returning were attacked by eight enemy planes. Their plane was brought
down in flames and both officers killed.
By command of General Pershing
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ANDRE GUNDELACH
BEFORE joining the Lafayette Flying Corps, Gundelach's career had
been an adventurous and roving one. While in the American Navy he
made the famous cruise around the world and for several years was
stationed with the Asiatic Squadron. In March, 1917, he volunteered to fly
for France, and was breveted on Bleriot at Avord, doing his triangles in
weather which made the monitors marvel at his daring. He had always been
interested in bombing work, but was sent to the Front on a Nieuport, trans-
ferred to a Spad, and shot down a German plane during his second flight on
that machine. Shortly after this, a request he had made to be transferred to
day bombing was granted, and he joined a famous French bombing squad-
ron, where he soon became known as a pilot of the first order. His broad ex-
perience of his chosen work made him a very valuable man, and when the
United States Air Service took him over as a First Lieutenant, he instructed
for a time at Clermont before being sent to the Front as Flight Commander
in the 96th Day Bombing Squadron. Decorated twice and cited while with
the French, Gundelach may well be called the ace of American bombardment.
He lost his life while returning from an exceptionally perilous mission which
he had accomplished alone.
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SERVICE RECORD
David W. Guy, St. Louis, Missouri.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1917.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 21, 1917.
Aviation Schools: August 1 to November 28, 191 7,
Avord, Tours, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 22, 19 17 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 155, December 2,
1917, to January 1, 1918.
Escadrille Spad 156, January 1 to
June I, 1918.
Escadrille Spad 38, June 1 to No-
vember 7, 19 1 8.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: November 7, 191 8.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre^ with Palm.
CITATION
13 juillety 19 1 8
Le General Commandant la IV C Armee cite a
l'Ordre de l'Armee:
Sergent Guy, David, M le 4655, du i er Regiment
Stranger, detache a TEscadrille Spa. 38
Pilote de tout premier ordre, courageux et d'un
rare sang-froid; recherche toutes les occasions de
combattre. Le 1 juillet a abattu dans nos lignes
un biplace ennemi.
DAVID W. GUY
GUY went to the Front, to the Escadrille N. 155, on December 2,
1917. On January 1, 1918, he joined Winter, Shaffer, and Putnam
in the N. 156, a squadron which changed shortly afterwards to the
small Morane monoplanes. Soon after Winter's death these planes were
pronounced unsafe, and toward the end of May the squadron was equipped
with Spads. In a letter to Colonel Gros, Guy said:
"The evening of May 28 we were all excited by the news that Lieutenant
Madon of the Spad 38 had asked for the three Americans (of the 156), and
Putnam and I were ordered to take our new Spads and have the guns
mounted before morning in order to make an early patrol. We could not get
them ready in time, but pushed off later to try to join the formation. I
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DAVID W. GUY
attacked one of two photo Rumplers over Jonchery and saw the plane pitch
over — at the same time I had a water siphon and was forced to land with a
dead stick. This Rumpler was confirmed two weeks later, but not officially
as I had not seen it wrecked. One afternoon when I was with Putnam we
attacked ten Albatross, but I had motor trouble and was forced to quit. It
was certainly a revelation to watch Putnam attack. He showed absolutely
no fear, and waited until within a few yards of the enemy plane before open-
ing fire. He finally left after driving them nearly twenty kilometers back into
their lines. One of Putnam's best fights was when he was left alone to protect
two Salmsons. Six Albatross attacked them from above — with every ad-
vantage. Putnam saved the Salmsons, and was himself brought down with
three bullets in his motor, but not until he had knocked down two of the
Albatross. On the 1st of July I chased a biplace Rumpler down from 5300
meters, and hit him so that he fell between the lines. He put three bullets in
my plane — it was my only official victory."
Guy stayed with the Spad 38 until November 7, four days before the
Armistice, when he was transferred to the Air Service, with the rank of
First Lieutenant, and assigned to the 1st Aero Squadron. The quality of his
service with the French may be judged from the notes given by Madon :
". . . Fait honneur a I' Aviation Frangaise pour laquelle il est une precieuse
recrue. Nomme officier dans VArm'ee Americaine, pourrait etre laisse a Vesca-
drille j<?, ou il serait un aide pour ses chefs et un exemple pour ses jeunes
camarades"
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SERVICE RECORD
Bert Hall, Higginsville, Missouri.
Previous Service: August to December, 1914,
Foreign Legion (Infantry).
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: December 28, 1914.
Aviation Schools: December, 1914, to March,
1915, Pau, Buc, Reserve
General Aeronautique.
Breveted: August 19, 191 5.
At the Front: Escadrille M.S. 38, summer of
1915.
Escadrille Lafayette, April 28 to
November 1, 19 16.
Escadrille N. 103, November 18
to December 20, 19 16.
Final Rank: Adjudant.
Decorations:
Medaille Militaire.
Croix de Guerre, with three Palms.
CITATION
November 26, 191 6
Bert Hall, Adjutant Pilot in
Escadrille N. 103
Clever, energetic, and courageous pilot, full
of spirit. Daily attacking enemy planes at
very short distance. On November 26, 1916, shot down a German plane at two hundred
meters from our trenches. The following day, after a combat held quite near, returned with
his machine hit by several shots, also a shot in his helmet.
(Three additional citations.)
BERT HALL
BERT HALL entered the French Aviation Service from the Foreign
Legion (Infantry) in December, 1914. He is one of the original mem-
bers of the Escadrille Lafayette, and served with it until November,
1916, when he was transferred, at his own request, to the French squadron,
N. 103. In January, 1917, he was granted permission to accompany the
French Aviation Mission which was sent, at that time, to Roumania, He
later asked for, and was granted, permission to return to the United States,
supposedly for the purpose of entering the United States Air Service. He re-
mained in America until the close of the war.
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SERVICE RECORD
James Norman Hall, Colfax, Iowa.
Previous Service: August 18, 1914, to December
i> 19*5, 9th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (British
Army).
Service in French Aviation:
Date 0) enlistment: October 11, 1916.
Aviation Schools: October 16, 1916, to June 14,
191 7, Buc, Avord, G.D.E.
Breveted: April 23, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette, June 16 to
June 26, 191 7.
Escadrille Spad 112, September
22 to October 3, 19 17.
Escadrille Lafayette, October 3,
1917, to February 18, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Captain: February 7, 19 18.
At the Front: 103d Pursuit Squadron, February
18 to March 29, 191 8.
94th Pursuit Squadron, March 29
to May 7, 1918.
Shot down in combat: May 7, 1918, near Pagny-
sur-Moselle (Meurthe- .
et-Moselle).
Prisoner in Germany until the Armistice.
founded in combat: June 26, 191 7, and May 7,
1918.
Decorations:
Distinguished Service Cross.
Legion d'Honneur.
Medaille Militaire.
Croix de Guerre, with five Palms.
CITATIONS
Medaille Militaire:
Par Ordre N° 5261 "D" du 9 juillet, 1917, du General Commandant en Chef, la Medaille
Militaire a ete conferee:
Au Caporal Pilote Hall, James Norman (active de rEscadrille N. 124)
Reforme, apres avoir ete mitrailleur dans une arme alliee, s'est engage comme pilote a
TEscadrille Lafayette. Des son arrivee a montre un courage splendide et le plus pur esprit
de sacrifice. Le 26 juin, 1917, a fonce seul sur sept avions ennemis, faisant Padmiration des
temoins du combat; blesse grievement da'ns la lutte, a reussit a ramener son appareil dans
nos lignes.
La presente nomination comporte Tattribution de la Croix de Guerre avec Palme.
(Signe) Maistre
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JAMES NORMAN HALL
Au G.Q.y le 21 Janvier, 191 8
Le General Commandant la IV e Armee cite a POrdre de l'Armee:
Le Sergent Hall, James Norman, M te 11921 de TEscadrille Lafayette
(Groupe de Combat N° 13)
Excellent pilote de chasse, deja blesse en combat aerien. Revenu au front, y fait preuve
des plus belles qualites de hardiesse et d'allant. Le 1 Janvier, 191 8, a descendu un mono-
place ennemi dont une aile s'est detachee et est tombee dans nos lignes (i cr avion).
(Signe) Gouraud
IV e Armee, £tat-Major. Le 4 avril, 1918
Le General Commandant la IV C Armee cite a l'Ordre de l'Armee:
Capitaine Hall, James Norman, de PEscadrille Lafayette 103
Pilote d'une grande bravoure, qui livre journellement de nombreux combats. A abattu
deux avions ennemis.
(Signe) Gouraud
G.H.Q., American Expeditionary Forces, April 10, 191 8
The Commander-in-Chief has awarded the Distinguished Service Cross to
James Norman Hall, Captain, Air Service, Flight Commander 103d Aero Squadron
On March 26, 191 8, while leading a patrol of three, attacked a group of five enemy fighters
and three enemy two-seaters, himself destroying one and forcing down two others which were
very probably destroyed, the fight lasting more than twenty (20) minutes.
By command of General Pershing
(Signed) Frank C. Burnett
Adjutan t-General
VIII C Armee, £tat-Major. Le 9 mai, 191 8
Capitaine Hall, James Norman, Pilote a rEscadrille Americaine
Brillant pilote de chasse, modele de courage et d'entrain qui a abattu recemment un avion
ennemi, a trouve une mort glorieuse dans un combat contre quatre monoplaces dont un a
ete descendu en flammes.
(Signe) Le General Commandant le VHP Armee
Grand Quartier General des Armies
Francaises de l'Est £tat-Major. Le 17 mai y 1919
Apres approbation du General Commandant en Chef les Forces Expeditionnaires Ameri-
caines en France, le Marechal Commandant en Chef les Armees Francaises de l'Est
cite a TOrdre de TArmee:
Capitaine Hall, James Norman
Citoyen americain engage dans la Legion fitrangere comme pilote a TEscadrille Lafayette.
A fait preuve des plus belles qualites de bravoure et de sang-froid. A abattu 4 avions ennemis.
Le Marechal Commandant en Chef les Armees de VEst
Petain
Par decret du President de la Republique en date du 9 avril, 1919, le Capitaine Hall a ete
promu Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur.
Cet promotion a ete fait avec le motif de ce citation.
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JAMES NORMAN HALL
JAMES N. HALL, after a period of service as an infantryman with Lord
Kitchener's first hundred thousand, was honorably discharged from the
British army, and later enlisted in the French Aviation Service and was
sent to the Escadrille Lafayette. He was wounded shortly after his arrival at
the Front and spent the summer of 1917 in hospital. In September, 1917, he
HALL NEAR PAGNY-SUR-MOSELLE. MORNING OF MAY 7, 1918
(Snapshot taken by a German aviator)
returned to the Front as a member of the French Squadron, Spad 112, but
was soon permitted to return to his old unit, where he was on duty until after
his transfer to the United States Air Service. On March 29, 191 8, he was sent
as a Flight Commander to the 94th Pursuit Squadron. On May 7, 191 8, dur-
ing a combat near Pont-a-Mousson, while diving on an Albatross single-
seater, his upper right plane gave way, the fabric covering it bursting along
the leading edge. A moment later an enemy anti-aircraft battery made a
direct hit on his motor, and his plane fell out of control near Pagny-sur-
Moselle. He was a prisoner in various German hospitals and prison camps
until the Armistice.
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SERVICE RECORD
Edgar G. Hamilton, Newcastle, Pennsylvania.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: February 27, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: March 3 to July 25, 1917,
Avord.
Breveted: June 12, 19 17 (Caudron).
Bleriot Moniteur at Avord until June 10, 191 7.
Technical Instructor at Chateauroux, July 10,
1917, to April 1, 191 8.
Chief Technical Instructor at Tours, July 10 to
August 20, 1918.
At G.D.E. for training on Sopwith.
Technical Instructor at Chateauroux, August
25, 1918, to Armistice.
Final Rank: Sous-Lieutenant.
EDGAR G. HAMILTON
OF all the American volunteers
in the French Air Service, no
one had an experience more
disappointing to himself than Edgar
Hamilton. After receiving his military
brevet at Avord, he was made a moni-
teur there, the reason being that he
was thoroughly acquainted with motors, spoke French well, and was thus
in a position to instruct the American eleve-pilotesj who because of their lack
of French were losing most of the ground-school work. America's entry into
the war made this position of Hamilton's a permanent one. He was anxious
to go to the Front, but as his services were badly needed in the rear, his
application was refused. He was sent to the American Aviation School at
Tours as instructor on motors and aeroplanes, and later to the French train-
ing center at Chateauroux, where he was ground instructor for the American
student-pilots. Here he was compelled to remain until the end of the war,
doing faithful and conscientious work, all the while longing to get into the
fighting and never being given the opportunity. He received no honors in
the military sense. His name did not appear in the French list of awards.
It was his hard luck to be in the midst of war and yet to see it only from a
distance; to say bonne chance to pilots on their way to the Front, knowing
that he himself could not follow them. It is easy to understand what his
own feeling must have been, although he rarely spoke of it. He stuck to his
job and he did it well, and all his friends who know the real bitterness of
his disappointment, admire and honor him for it.
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SERVICE RECORD
Robert M. Han ford, Brooklyn, New York.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 24, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: June 5 to October 15, 1917,
Avord.
Killed in line of duty: October 15, 19 17, at
Chateaurouz.
Final Rank: Soldat de deuxieme classe.
ROBERT M. HANFORD
HANFORD was a fighter, every inch of him; trained on the football
field to take punishment and never to give up. Like many of his
comrades who since have become famous, he had trouble with the
Bleriot, but at the time of his death, he had developed into a clever pilot, and
he died as a result of one of those fatal mischances which seem unavoidable
in aviation.
He was on his brevet, flying a Caudron from Avord to Chateauroux, just
approaching the latter field where the air was always thick with machines
during flying hours. Watching ahead with the intentness of a young pilot, he
did not see a Farman approaching straight for his blind spot. A mid-air
collision is one of the most terrible of sights to watch: men on the ground
turned away in horror. . . . There was a crash of breaking wood and tearing
fabric, and the two machines with their occupants came hurtling to earth.
. . . Death must have been instantaneous. When the news came to Avord it
brought grief to every American in the school.
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SERVICE RECORD
Willis B. Haviland, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1915.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: January 26, 1916.
Aviation Schools: January 30 to October 20,
1916, Pau, Buc, G.D.E.
Breveted: May 20, 1916 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette, October 22,
1916, to September 18, 1917.
Escadrille Spad 102, October I,
1917, to January 1, 1918.
Final Rank: Adjudant.
Service in U.S. Naval Aviation:
Commissioned Lieutenant (Senior Grade).
At the Front: Chief Pilot at U.S. Naval Air
Station, Dunkirk, February 1
to March 25, 191 8.
13th Squadron, R.N.A.S., March
25 to May 1, 1918.
CO. U.S. Naval Air Station,
Porto Corsini, Italy, August 1,
191 8, to Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATION
Groupe d'Armee du Nord, £tat-Major. Le 17 mat, 191 7
Le General Franchet d'Esperrey, Commandant le Groupe d'Armees du Nord, cite a POrdre
de l'Armee:
Haviland, Willis, Sergent a l'Escadrille N. 124 (N° M fc 11 731)
Citoyen americain engage pour la duree de la guerre. Bon pilote courageux et adroit. A
attaque le 26 avril un avion ennemi et l'a abattu dans les premieres lignes allemandes.
(Stgne) Franchet D'Esperrey
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WILLIS B. HAVILAND
FROM the early days of 191 5, when he was driving an ambulance on the
Pont-a-Mousson Sector for the American Field Service, until the
close of the war, Willis Haviland was continuously on active duty in
Europe. By right of faithful and conscientious service, he takes a prominent
place in the history of the American volunteers in France. He was one of the
earliest of the number to enlist in the Aviation Section of the Foreign Legion
and was in training at Paris two months before the Escadrille Americaine
was first sent to the Front. He joined the Squadron at Cachy-sur-Somme and
WILLIS HAVILAND AT CACHY ON THE SOMME
served with it at various parts of the line until his transfer, October 1, 1917,
to Spad 102, a French squadron.
It is impossible to give a detailed account of his adventures in French
Aviation within the limits of a brief sketch. When he transferred to the
United States Naval Air Service after fourteen months of flying at the Front,
he was in a position to give valuable assistance to our own Air Service. He
was commissioned a Lieutenant and qualified for the naval aviation brevet
on February 1, 1918. For two months he was detailed as chief pilot and sec-
ond in command at the United States Naval Air Station at Dunkirk. At the
beginning of the German offensive on the Somme he was sent to the 13th
Squadron, R.N.A.S. After three weeks of daily combat and reconnaissance
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WILLIS B. HAVILAND
flights with this squadron, he was sent on a mission to Italy in connection
with the establishment of the U.S.N.A.S. on the Adriatic. Returning to
France he selected a personnel of 20 officers and 360 men for the United
States Naval Air Station at Porto Corsini, Italy, where he was placed on
permanent duty as Commanding Officer.
Here they were bombed by the Austrians and in turn bombed the Austrian
aerodrome at Pola. Haviland was the first American to make a night bom-
bardment of this enemy station. He also took part in raids, both by night
and by day, of the naval base there. In addition to the bombardments,
there were daily reconnaissance flights by land and submarine chasing over
the Adriatic in single-seater combat machines. Some of the Americans at
Porto Corsini were cited for valor by the Italian Government, but up to the
present the United States Navy has not permitted its airmen to receive for-
eign decorations. Haviland himself has been proposed for the silver Medal
for Valor, Chevalier of the Crown of Italy, and the Italian War Cross. He
already has the French Croix de Guerre, with Palm. But better than military
awards is the satisfaction which comes from the record, throughout three
years of war, of hazardous service faithfully done.
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SERVICE RECORD
Thomas M. Hewitt, Jr., Westchester, New York.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 191 5-
16.
Service in French Aviation:
Date oj enlistment: April 13, 1 91 6.
Aviation Schools: July 3, 1916, to March 28, 191 7,
Buc, Juvisy, Avord, Cazeaux,
Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: November 21, 1916 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette, March 30 to
September 17, 191 7.
Final Rank: Sergent.
THOMAS M. HEWITT, Jr.
A FTER several months at the Front with the Escadrille Lafayette,
L\ Thomas Hewitt was sent back to the depot at G.D.E. for training as
JL Jl a bombardment pilot. Shortly afterward he was released from the
French Service and returned to America, November 1, 191 7. A few months
later he reenlisted in an American infantry regiment and was on duty in
the United States until the close of the war.
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SERVICE RECORD
Dudley Lawrence Hill, Peekskill, New York.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1915.
Service in French Aviation:
Date 0} enlistment: August 3, 1915.
Aviation Schools: September 25, 1915, to May 2,
19 1 6. Pau, Chateau roux,
G.D.E.
Breveted: March 17, 1916 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette, June 9, 1916,
to February 18, 19 18.
Final Rank: Adjudant.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Captain : January 18, 1918.
At the Front: 103d Pursuit Squadron, February
18 to June 1, 1918.
139th Pursuit Squadron, June 1 to
August 1, 1918.
CO. 138th Pursuit Squadron,
August 1 to November 1, 191 8.
CO. 5th Pursuit Group, Novem-
ber 1 to Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
CITATION
II e Armee, £tat-Major. Le 8 octobre, 191 7
Le Chef d'£tat-Major de la 2™ Armee cite a TOrdre de PAeronautique:
Hill, Dudley, N° M te 11632, Adjudant Pilote a PEscadrille N. 124
Citoyen americain engage pour la duree de la guerre. Bon pilote de chasse, modele de
devouement a son devoir. A livre de nombreux combats, particulierement au cours des der-
nieres attaques de Verdun, et s'est depense sans compter, donnant a tous les plus beaux
exemples de hardiesse et d'entrain. S'est particulierement distingue le 18 aout au cours de la
protection d'un bombardement ou il a eu son avion gravement atteint.
DUDLEY LAWRENCE HILL
DUDLEY LAWRENCE HILL, although not one of the original per-
sonnel of the Lafayette Squadron, was one of the first of the imme-
diate followers to transfer from the American Ambulance to the
French Aviation Service. Although he had defective vision in one eye, he
was passed by Dr. Gros for the French Aviation at a time when applicants
were rare, and it was impossible to be too particular. He had additional phy-
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DUDLEY LAWRENCE ttlLL
sical tests to pass at the French Bureau de Recrutement in Paris, but hood-
winked the doctor when it came to examining his blind eye, by looking
through his fingers with his good one. His imperfect vision did not prevent
his making a creditable showing at the schools, but on arrival at Pau he was
obliged to submit to another physical examination and the defect of sight
was discovered. The Captain commanding decided that he could not do
acrobatics and proposed his radiation.
French military matters of this kind move with proverbial slowness, and
when the papers finally reached Pau, Dudley, with the connivance of his
instructors, had so profitably employed his time that he was nearly finished
with his acrobatic flying; and having demonstrated his ability notwithstand-
ing his defective vision, he was allowed to continue his training and was sent
to the G.D.E. He went to the Front when French combat squadrons were
equipped with 15-meter Nieuport biplanes, with Lewis guns mounted on the
top planes. From that time until his transfer to the American Air Service,
Dudley served constantly as a pilot with N. 124. He has flown with the
Squadron on every sector of the Western Front. His experience as a pilote de
chasse is as broad as his length of service indicates. His old French uniform
of horizon blue had numberless baptisms of gas and burnt castor oil at a
time when the entire American Air Force could have ridden comfortably in
one Handley-Page. And yet, to hear him tell of it — but who ever heard
"Dud" tell of anything in which he himself was concerned? Unless it was
to speak of some headlong flight which he claims to have made from pursuing
Germans.
He has a long and enviable record of service which he never mentions, but
he is always generous in his praise of the records at the Front of other men.
It can be said of him, with absolute certainty, that twenty-five years hence,
when most veteran airmen are holding forth garrulously at Memorial Day
Celebrations, he will still be the same monosyllabic "Dud" his comrades
knew of old. He is poor material for the making of a home-town hero, and in
far distant days, when he sits by the chimney corner and his grandchildren
clamor for stories about the Great War, "Dud" will stroke his beardless chin
and begin: "Well, I remember a little cafe in Bar-le-Duc, where we used to
loaf on rainy days. There was n't a better place on the Western Front for a
vermouth cassis." After long and futile pleading his grandchildren will go
storyless to bed.
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SERVICE RECORD
Edward F. Hinkle, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 20, 191 6.
Aviation Schools: August 1, 1916, to February
26, 191 7, Buc, Avord, Ca-
zeaux, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: November 4, 1916 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette, March 1 to
June 12, 1917.
Final Rank: Sergent.
EDWARD F. HINKLE
EDWARD HINKLE, although more than forty years old — far be-
yond the age limit for candidates in the French Air Service — secured
his acceptance through the support of friends and was among the
earliest of the American volunteers. He made a creditable record in the
aviation schools and was sent to the Front on March 1, 1917. During the next
two months he took part in several patrols and was then released from duty
on account of illness.
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SERVICE RECORD
Thomas Hitchcock, Jr., Westbury, New York.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 25, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: June 29 to December 8, 1917,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 17, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille N. 87, December 10,
1917, to March 6, 1918.
Shot down, wounded, in German territory: March
6, 1918.
Escaped into Switzerland: August 28, 1 91 8.
Final Rank: Sous-Lieutenant.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with three Palms.
CITATIONS
Le 2 octobre, 191 8
OrdreN 10372 "D" G.Q.G.
Lieutenant Thomas Hitchcock, Pilotc
Aviateur
Citoyen americain, a offert spontanement
ses services a la France en s'engageant dans
une Unite deviation. Blesse et fait pris-
sonnier a la suite d'un combat inegal contre
un ennemi superieur en nombre, s'est evade
de captivite, dans des circonstances perilleuses, pour recommencer a combattre.
Ordre de VArmee:
Le Caporal Hitchcock, Thomas, sujet americain, N° M te 12292, du i er Regiment
de la Legion Etrangere, Pilote a TEscadrille N. 87
Pilote de chasse qui, des son arrivee, s'est fait remarque par ses qualites d'allant, de cou-
rage, et d'adresse. Le 6 Janvier, 1918, apres une poursuite hardie et un brillant combat, a
abattu un avion ennemi, qui s'est ecrase au sol.
Le 19 Janvier, 191 8, a abattu son 2 e avion ennemi.
Ordre de TArm'ee:
Le Marechal de Logis Hitchcock, Thomas
Pilote de chasse d'une grande valeur, remarquable de courage et d'adresse, ayant deja
abattu deux ennemis officiellement, le 20 Janvier, ayant pris un biplace ennemi en chasse au-
dessus de Nancy, le poursuit jusque sur son terrain a plus de 25 kilometres dans lignes,
mitraillant a bout portant les hangars et tuant probablement le pilote.
Le 6 mars, foncant avec une magnifique ardeur sur un groupe de 3 monoplaces ennemis
qu'il force a piquer dans leurs lignes, est disparu au cours de cette attaque.
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THOMAS HITCHCOCK, Jr.
IT was said by the instructors at Avord that Hitchcock was one of the
most remarkable Bleriot pilots the school had ever turned out. Abso-
lutely at home in the air, he possessed a love of flying, a sureness of
touch, and a keenness of eye that made his landings perfect and his air work
a pleasure to watch. From Plessis-Belleville, he was sent to a Nieuport
Squadron, the N. 87, then stationed at Luneville. In spite of his antiquated
machine and one of the quietest sectors of the Front, Hitchcock distinguished
HITCHCOCK. YORK, WINTER, GUEST. RODGERS, AND SCHREIBER
ON THE WAY TO FRANCE
himself in a very short time by bringing down two German biplaces. He was
always in the air, alone or with Wellman, searching far and wide for Ger-
mans. Once he found an enemy he never left him, attacking again and again,
until the plane went down or until his ammunition was exhausted.
On one occasion with Wellman he attacked a two-seater over Nancy,
following it and shooting burst after burst at point-blank range, until they
were over the German airdrome, fifteen miles into the lines. The enemy pilot
dove down and landed with the observer dead in the seat. Flying over the
aerodrome, only a few yards off the ground, the two Americans shot their
remaining cartridges with deadly effect into barracks and hangars before
they rose and headed homeward.
Early in the spring of 191 8, when doing patrol, Hitchcock attacked, single-
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THOMAS HITCHCOCK, Jr.
handed, a large patrol of Albatross. Wounded in the back and with his con-
trol wires cut, he crashed to the ground and was made prisoner. His escape
was one of the cleverest and most sensational of the war. Jumping from a
railway carriage full of Germans, traveling by night and hiding by day in the
woods, he reached the Swiss frontier at last, and crossed into safety.
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SERVICE RECORD
Warren Tucker Hobbs, Worcester, Mass.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 191 7.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 10, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: August 2, to December 8, 191 7,
Avord, Tours, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 29, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille N. 153, December 11,
1917, to January 15, 1918.
Escadrille N. 158, January 15 to
March 16, 1918.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant, March 3, 191 8.
At the Front: 103d Pursuit Squadron, May 31 to
June 25, 1918.
Killed by anti-aircraft fire: June 25, 1918 (Flan-
ders).
WARREN TUCKER HOBBS
HOBBS came to France to
drive an ambulance, but
wanting more active service
he obtained his release immediately upon arrival overseas, and volunteered in
the Lafayette Flying Corps. InAmericahe had won fame as an athlete, and the
qualities which served him on the track made him a fearless and skillful pilot.
On December 1 1 he joined the Escadrille N. 153 and served faithfully with
that unit until his transfer to the American army, four months later. Hobbs
was a man of great personal charm; his ready humor and constant desire to
help others endeared him to his comrades, whose confidence he won by his
courage and skill in combat. Shortly after his transfer, Hobbs was sent to
the 103d Pursuit Squadron, then operating in Flanders. At seven-thirty on
the evening of June 25 he was flying alone — gaining altitude to join his
patrol which had left the aerodrome a few minutes before him — over the
desolate battle-fields to the southeast of Ypres. Far below and to the north
a German anti-aircraft gunner mechanically sighted on the lonely Spad and
pulled the lanyard, little dreaming that of all his shells this one was destined
to find its mark. Seconds passed — suddenly an angry black puff sprang out
close beside the distant plane, which veered and fell flaming in the British
lines. Hobbs was buried with full military honors by the British. He lies in
worthy company, in one of the quiet cemeteries which consecrate the coun-
tryside of Flanders.
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SERVICE RECORD
Robert B. Hoeber, Nutley, New Jersey.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July io, 1917.
Aviation Schools: July 10 to December 15, 1917,
Avord, Tours, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 20, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 103, December 19,
1917, to Armistice.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATIONS
Le 21 juin, 1918
i re Armee, £tat-Major.
Le General Commandant la ire Armee cite
a l'Ordre de TArmee:
Hoeber, Robert, M ,e 46607, Sergent du
i er Regiment Etranger, Pilote a l'Esca-
drille 103
Citoyen americain, pilote de chasse re-
marquable, joignant a de brillantes qualites
de pilotage un courage admirable. Le 2 juin,
191 8, a la suite d'un dur combat, a abattu
un monoplace ennemi.
(Signe) Debeney
ROBERT B. HOEBER
IN the aviation schools, Hoeber made an excellent record. In December,
1917, he was sent to the Escadrille Spad 103, of which Fonck, the great-
est of French aces, was a member. Hoeber, together with Baylies, Par-
sons, and Brown, saw service in the most active sectors of the Front, for their
groupe, Les Cigognes, was usually sent to combat the crack German "cir-
cuses."
Hoeber took part in many fights, often patrolling with Fonck, whose skill
and marvelous eyesight he greatly admired. During the summer of 191 8, he
shot down one German plane, officially confirmed, and brought down, far
beyond the lines, several others which were never counted. In March, 191 8,
when his squadron had been driven from the neighborhood of Montdidier by
the German advance, and had taken refuge at Le Plessis-Belleville, he had an
experience of unusual interest. One morning, the Commanding Officer sent
an orderly with an urgent call for an American pilot. Hoeber responded at
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ROBERT B. HOEBER
once and the Captain entrusted him with the mission. It appeared that the
French had only vague and untrustworthy information regarding the loca-
tion of the lines in the Montdidier district, and for that reason the Com-
mandant desired to send an American to get information from the British
at Amiens. The weather was very bad, with clouds at three hundred feet
and streamers of mist beneath the clouds, but Hoeber made the trip, landed
AN ALBATROSS
at the British aerodrome, and got all the desired information. While return-
ing he lost his way and did not realize that he was some miles in German ter-
ritory until a patrol of five Albatross suddenly attacked him. The ensuing
combat was bitter, but after he had had his machine nearly shot to pieces,
Hoeber saw that his only hope of escape, with his valuable dispatches, was
through the clouds. . . . He pulled up, lost the Germans in the mist, and fin-
ally came out in the clear sunlight above. Not quite sure of his direction, he
steered by the sun, and when he finally came in sight of the earth, found him-
self near one of the Channel ports. As his gasoline was low and the machine
in no fit condition to fly, Hoeber landed, had luncheon with the General
commanding the R.A.F., borrowed a motor-car and returned to Plessis.
His machine never flew again.
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SERVICE RECORD
Dabney D. Horton, Paris, France.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: August 16, 1916.
Aviation Schools: August 16, 1916, to July 10,
19 1 7, Buc, Juvisy, Avord,
Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: March 17, 19 17 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille C. 17, July 13, 191 7, to
January 5, 1918.
Escadrille Sop. 255, January 5 to
February 18, 1918.
Escadrille Spad 75, September 15,
1918, to Armistice.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
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DABNEY D. HORTON
IN the autumn of 191 6, Dabney Horton was one of the fifteen or twenty-
American student-pilots making up the groupe cT entrainement of the
Lafayette Flying Corps at Buc. The Americans lived in the same bar-
racks with their French comrades, enjoying an intimacy of companionship
with them, which was the especial
privilege of the early volunteers. In
the evenings, when flying for the day
was over, every one went for dinner
to M. Ciret's in the village. There, in
a tiny room adjoining the grande salle
4 manger, filled with savory odors
and fledgling birdmen, they passed
the evenings living in the future,
eager for the time when they should
go to the Front. That old crowd is
now widely scattered. Many of them
are dead. Others were spared in some
miraculous way and served at the
Front until the end of the war. Dab-
ney Horton is among these fortunate
few. He remained in French uniform
throughout his seventeen months of
active service. He piloted Caudrons
{G. 4) and Sopwiths in French recon-
naissance and bombardment squad-
rons, doing routine duty of the most
-dangerous but least spectacular kind.
Photography, reconnaissance artil- M CIRET
lery reglage y trench-strafing, — he
has had an enviable share in all kinds of aerial missions, and later became a
combat pilot in Spad 75. Between times he wrote verse about his adventures
and few men better knew from actual experience of:
" The weakened wire,
The tiny bullet of flying fire,
The treacherous wing that would buckle or break" —
to quote from one of his own poems.
He knew the joy and the terror of combat from two points of view, the
actual and imaginative. But the truest thing one can say of him, was that he
undertook a difficult and hazardous job and stuck at it until it was finished.
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SERVICE RECORD
Ronald Wood Hoskier, South Orange, New
Jersey.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1916.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: April 5, 1 916.
Aviation Schools: May 12 to December 8, 1916,
Buc, A vord, Cazeaux, G.D.E.
Breveted: August 13, 1916 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette, December 1 1,
1916, to April 23, 1917.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Killed in combat: April 23, 1917, near Saint-
Quentin.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATION
Le I mai 9 191 7
Le General Franchet d'Esperey, Command-
ant, le G.A.N., cite a POrdre de PArmec:
Hoskier, Ronald Wood, Sergent a
PEscadrille N. 124
Citoyen americain engage au service de la
France. Veritable ame d'elite pour sa bra-
voure et son esprit de sacrifice. Est tombe
le 23 avril, 191 7, apres une heroique defense
dans un combat con t re trois appareils en-
« nemis.
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RONALD WOOD HOSKIER
SHORTLY after Ronald Hoskier' s transfer from the Ambulance Service
to French Aviation, one of his American comrades, in training with
him at the Bleriot School at Buc, wrote the following letter:
"One of our new recruits is Ronald Hoskier whom you may know, for he
has been in the American Ambulance Service. He has made a deep impres-
sion upon me, and upon the other men as well. His fine, manly face is a clear
index of his character, and his eyes are so fearless and honest that one knows
with absolute certainty that he is a man to be trusted in any sort of emer-
THE REMAINS OF HOSKIER'S MACHINE
gency. If all of the later men in the Franco-American Corps are of Hoskier's
type, we shall be certain of making a splendid showing at the Front."
This is typical of the high regard in which Ronald Hoskier was held by his
comrades in France. Like most young Americans, he had a keen love of ad-
venture, and the life of an airman at the Front gave an outlet which he wel-
comed. But love of adventure alone would never have prompted him to en-
list. His enthusiasm for the cause of France was deep and sincere. He was
only twenty, and had a boy's clearness of perception of the issues involved in
the war. And so he gave himself without hesitation, and lived only for the
time when he should be sent on active duty.
He finished his training in the early winter and was sent to the Escadrille
Lafayette when it was operating from the aerodrome at Cachy, on the
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RONALD WOOD HOSKIER
Somme front. Here he had the privilege of association with Lieutenant de
Laage de Meux, who typified all that is finest in French character. Hoskier
found him his ideal Frenchman and lost no opportunity to prove to him his
own high devotion to the Allied cause. Paul Rockwell who was in close touch
with the Lafayette Squadron wrote of him at this time:
"From the day of his departure for the Front, every time I have met one
of the pilots or have received news from the Escadrille Lafayette, Hoskier
has been mentioned as one of the most active members of the unit. Since his
arrival, the Squadron has not made a single sortie in which he has not taken
part. He had innumerable combats and I have heard so much of these that
I am always afraid of receiving the news that he has been killed."
THE FUNERAL OF HOSKIER AND DRESSY
It is a common saying among airmen, one too often borne out by facts,
that the finest men are the first to go. And so it happened that Ronald
Hoskier, one of the men who could least be spared from the Squadron, met
his death but four months after joining it. On April 23, 1917, he made his
last flight. At that time the Escadrille Lafayette was equipped with Nieu-
ports and Spads, the single-seater avions de chasse in use in all French com-
bat squadrons. In addition there was one two-seater Morane Parasol, a
monoplane which was often flown by members of the Squadron, with Caporal
Dressy, the orderly of Lieutenant de Laage de Meux, as machine-gunner in
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RONALD WOOD HOSKIER
the rear seat. Hoskier made his last patrol in this machine. The following
account of his death is taken from a letter written by one of his comrades:
"Three of our finest men lost in one month! The Squadron appears to be
followed in these days by persistent ill-fortune. This time it is Ronald Hos-
kier who has been called — one of the best men I have ever known. He was
flying a Morane Parasol, and had with him Jean Dressy, a splendid fellow,
the old machine-gunner of Lieutenant de Laage. Hoskier went on a recon-
naissance accompanied by Thaw, Haviland, and Willis. There were heavy
clouds at 2000 meters, so they flew just beneath them. All at once they met
an enemy patrol of four or five planes, and a combat began which continued
until the Germans disappeared in the clouds. At the same time our groupe
entered the mist and all of us became separated. None of us ever saw Hoskier
or Dressy alive again, but we learned what happened later, from the balloon
observers.
"Evidently Hoskier saw a German beneath him, and apparently alone.
He dove on him, and at the same instant several other enemy machines ap-
peared. They encircled him and opened fire. He had n't a chance. Suddenly
his Morane was seen to dive straight down, full motor. The wings folded up
and that was the end. Poor Dressy was thrown clear of the machine in the
fall. It is some comfort to us that both men fell within our lines. Their bodies
were brought to Ham and buried here, with full military honors, close to
little Genet."
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SERVICE RECORD
Jean Huffer, Paris, France.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: September 28, 191 5.
Aviation Schools: January 1 to April 10, 191 6,
Avord, Cazeaux, Pau.
At the Front: Escadrille N. 95, April 1, 1916.
Escadrille N. 62, June 16, 1916, to
March 15, 1917
Escadrille F. 36, July 13 to Sep-
tember 14, 1917.
Escadrille Spad 62, October 4,
1917, to February 18, 1918.
Final Rank: Sous-Lieutenant.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Major: November 7, 191 7.
At the Front: CO. 94th Pursuit Squadron, March
17 to June 7, 1918.
Assistant Operations Officer, June
7 to July 25, 1918.
CO. 93d Pursuit Squadron, July
25, 19 1 8, to Armistice.
Decorations:
Medaille Militaire.
Croix de Guerre ', with three Palms and two Stars.
MAJOR HUFFER AT VILLENEUVE
CITATIONS
VI C Armee. 6 novembre, 191 6
Citation a FOrdre de F Aeronautique :
Excellent pilote. Toujours volontaire pour les missions les plus perilleuses. Le 5 novembre,
1916, a fait une longue reconnaissance au-dessus des lignes ennemies, volant pendant plus
de deux heures au milieu d'une tres forte tempete.
7 decembre, 191 6
Citation a FOrdre de V Armee (FI e ):
Degage de toute obligation militaire, s'est engage pour la duree de la guerre. Pilote re-
marquable d'avions rapides. Modele de sang-froid et d'allant; n'a cesse de se distinguer au
cours de la bataille de la Somme.
Accomplissant de tres nombreuses missions a longue portee. A rapporte chaque fois des
documents precieux. Les jours de mauvais temps, a vole dans la tempete au ras du sol au-
dessus des lignes ennemies, jusqu'a ce qu'il ait obtenu les renseignements demandes.
Le 24 septembre est rentre avec un appareil crible de balles.
Le 10 octobre, charge d'une mission tres importante, s'est heurte a un barrage d'avions
ennemis, en a abattu un, en a mis un deuxieme en fuite. Le groupe d'avions qui devait le
proteger s'etant disperse au cours du combat, n'a pas hesite a penetrer seul tres loin dans
les lignes ennemies pour accomplir sa mission et a rapporte d'importants renseignements.
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JEAN HUFFER
Medaille Militaire:
Ordre N° 4269 "D" du 6 mars, 1917, comportant attribution de la Croix de Guerre avec
palme.
Engage volontaire pour la duree de la guerre, s'est distingue comme pilote pars on adresse,
son energie, son audace, et son sang-froid; a accompli dans des conditions particulierement
difficiles de tres nombreuses missions au cours desquelles il a abattu deux avions ennemis.
Deja deux fois cite a TOrdre.
Citation a V Ordre de la VI e Armee: Ordre N° 45130, mars y 1916
Excellent pilote, le 17 mars, 1916, a abattu son troisieme avion ennemi.
Le 21 juin, 191 7
Le Lieutenant Colonel Charrez, Commt. le i cr Groupement A.L.V.F. ( Detachement
Italie) cite a TOrdre du Groupement (Ordre du Regiment) TEscadnlle Espinasse appelee
apporter son concours aux groupes de la R.G.A.L. detachee en Italie (mai-juin, 191 7); s'est
particulierement distinguee dans toutes les missions qui lui ont ete confiees.
Sous le commandement eclaire et intrepide de son Chef, Le Capitaine de Fontenilliat, par
les brillantes et audacieuses reconnaissances de ses energiques pilotes et observateurs,
Sous-Lieutenant Huffer, Jean
qui ont mis Pennemi en fuite partout oft ils Font recontre.
Par la prise de nombreuses photographies des regions montagneuses a battre, par les
reglages precis executes dans le Trentin au prix de multiples difficultes, cette remarquable
escadrille a suscite chez nos allies Padmiration la plus vive et fait le plus grand honneur au
Pays.
JEAN HUFFER
ENLISTING in the Foreign Legion on September 28, 191 5, Huffer was
sent at once to the aviation school at Pau, and after training at Pau,
Cazeaux, and Avord was sent to the Fronton April 1, 1916. The story
of his service in French Aviation is partially told in the text of his army
citations. He served in both combat and reconnaissance squadrons on the
Western Front and in Italy. After receiving his commission as Major in
the United States Air Service he was placed on duty at Villeneuve, where
he waited for two months until the first American Pursuit Squadron, the
94th, was ready for active duty. He was made Commanding Officer of the
94th on March 17, 1918, and remained with this unit during its first two
months of active duty at the Front. He then became Assistant Operations
Officer at Headquarters, First Air Depot, and afterward Commanding Officer
of the 93d Pursuit Squadron, which position he held until the close of the
war.
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SERVICE RECORD
Daniel Elliott Huger, New York City.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: January 26, 1917.
Aviation Schools: February 3 to August, 1917,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: June 26, 191 7 (Caudron).
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Naval Aviation:
Commissioned Ensign: March 13, 19 18.
In training at Moutchic-Lacanau (France) and
Lake Bolsena (Italy).
At the Front: U.S.N.A.S., Porto Corsini, Italy.
DANIEL ELLIOTT HUGER
HUGER began his training in French Aviation early in the winter of
1917. The weather was abominable — cold and raw and wet — and
as a result the Avord hospital was filled with ailing aviators, some
with pneumonia, some with bronchitis or grippe. The men still on duty en-
vied the men who were ill enough to be in bed, for it rained incessantly and
flying was almost at a standstill. Huger was one of the men hardest hit by
bronchitis, for he did not fully recover from it for more than a year. In
August, 1917, while at G.D.E. awaiting assignment to a squadron at the
Front, he came down with a second attack, and was compelled to take a long
convalescence in the south of France. When again ready for duty, most of
the Lafayette Flying Corps men had transferred to the United States Serv-
ice. Therefore Huger secured his release from French Aviation and enlisted
in the U.S.N.A.S. on March 13, 1918.
He trained on flying boats at Moutchic-Lacanau and was sent to Italy in
June for further training on Italian machines. On the day before he was to be
sent on active duty he went out for final target practice, over Lake Bolsena.
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DANIEL ELLIOTT HUGER
When he started to pull out of a dive about twenty feet above the lake, an
ammunition magazine fell from a shelf in front of him and became lodged in
the controls. He struck the water at terrific speed and would have been
drowned had it not been for his life-belt. He was badly injured and spent
BOLSENA, ITALY
nearly three months in the U.S. Naval Hospital at Genoa. Upon his recovery
he was sent to the U.S. Naval Air Station at Porto Corsini, and a few days
after his arrival there the Armistice was signed. In aviation one's opportun-
ity for service is largely a matter of chance. Both in France and in Italy,
Huger played in continual hard luck. He had far more than his share of it
which he accepted with sportsmanlike spirit.
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SERVICE RECORD
Earl W. Hughes, Detroit, Michigan.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 13, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: August 5, 191 7, to January 10,
1918, Avord, Tours, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 22, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Br. 66, January 14 to
June 15, 1918.
Escadrille F. no, October 6, 1918,
to Armistice.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
EARL W. HUGHES
SO far as is known, Hughes is the only member of the Lafayette Flying
Corps who has done night bombing work, and is the only one who has
flown the two-motored Farman. He went to the Front on December I,
1917, in Escadrille Br. 66. While piloting a Breguet day bombing machine
through the hard fighting in the region of Noyon and Montdidier, Hughes
had some thrilling experiences; on one occasion especially, when the patrol
leader did not see his objective, and Hughes, with one comrade, left the
flight to drop his bombs. Separated from the others, the two started to fight
their way back to the lines through a score of Albatross which came diving
on them from all directions. Hughes saw his comrade go down in flames, far
beyond the lines, which he himself regained only through the intervention of
a friendly cloud.
After a time he found that his health would no longer permit his flying at
high altitudes, but instead of giving up aviation, he displayed a fine spirit by
asking to be transferred to night bombardment, in which branch of the
Service he made many thrilling raids during the last months of the war.
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SERVICE RECORD
Sereno Thorp Jacob, Westport, Connecticut.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1916-17.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: March 20, 1917.
Aviation Schools: April 19 to December 24, 1917, Avord, Tours, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 21, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille N. 157, December 26, 1917, to September 8, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant, September 8, 1918.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATION
IV C Armee, £tat- Major. Le 25 avril, 191 3
Jacob, Sereno, Sergent au i er Regiment fitranger, M ,c 121 15, attache a
TEscadrille 157 (sujet americain)
Pilote adroit et audacieux; entrainant un camarade de patrouille est alle incendier un
ballon d'observation ennemi malgre une patrouille de cinq Albatros auxquels les deux
pilotes ont du livrer un severe combat avant de regagner les lignes francaises.
SERENO THORP JACOB
JACOB was already a veteran of the Ambulance Service when he arrived
at Tours as an eleve pilote. He went through Tours, Avord, and Pau
without an accident, and joined the Escadrille N. 157 at Belfort. The
Squadron was still equipped with the old type 27 Nieuports, and flying this
machine, Jacob had many combats and succeeded in burning a German kite
balloon.
Most pilots are glad of an occasional rest from flying, but Jacob, according
to his comrades, was always gonfle — three patrols a day were nothing out
of the ordinary for him. The habits of the local Boches formed a study of
never-failing interest; it was his delight to lie in wait for the wary Rumpler
which so often made its photographic reconnaissance at noon, heralded by a
tracery of white shrapnel puffs across the sky. Though he has three official
victories to his credit, Jacob has had bad luck in getting confirmations, and
among the chalky hills of the Champagne, over which he flew during the
attacks of 191 8, there are without doubt several fast-disappearing heaps of
wreckage which are rightfully his.
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SERVICE RECORD
Charles Chouteau Johnson, St. Louis, Missouri.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1915.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: September 2, 191 5.
Aviaion Schools: September, 1915, to February,
1916, Pau, Amberieu.
Breveted: January 2, 19 16 (Bleriot).
Camp retranche de Paris with Escadrille V. 97,
February and March, 1916.
R.G.A., April 21 to May 26, 1916.
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette, May 29,
1916, to October 31, 1917.
Final Rank: Adjudant.
Moniteur attached to French Aviation at
Second American A.I.C., Tours, November,
1917, to January, 1918.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant.
Promoted Captain.
Instructor at Tours.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATION
G.A.N., £tat-Major. Le 15 mat, 191 7
Le General Franchet-d'Esperey, Commandant i c G.A.N., cite a POrdre de PArmee:
Johnson, Charles C, Sergent a l'Escadrille N. 124 (N.M. 11627)
Citoyen americain engage pour la duree de la guerre. Bon pilote; a rendu a Verdun et sur
la Somme d'excellents services a son escadrille. Le 26 avril a attaque un avion ennemi et
l'a abattu.
CHARLES CHOUTEAU JOHNSON
CHOUTEAU JOHNSON has forgotten more Lafayette history than
most of us ever knew; for he joined the original Squadron on May
29, 1916, a little more than a month after it was organized for work
at the Front. He was a contemporary of Thaw and Lufbery, Victor Chap-
man, Norman Prince, Kiffin Rockwell, and James McConnell. Many an
afternoon of leave in Paris he has spent at the old Chatham rendezvous,
surrounded by a flock of fledgling birdmen, entertaining them with stories of
the old days when these men first began making history for the Corps.
Chouteau was always a favorite with the Hcves-pilotes, who often came to
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CHARLES CHOUTEAU JOHNSON
Paris for week-end leave in the hope of finding him there. He was a sort of
minor deity to all of the younger men, but a very genial and accessible one
with a fund of narrative almost Homeric in its scope and richness.
He liked best, of course, to tell of the adventures of other men. But he
himself had a wide experience during the war, first as an ambulance driver
and then as an airman. He has flown with N. 124 over the Vosges; at Verdun
when the Squadron occupied the field on the heights overlooking Bar-le-Duc;
from the Chaudun aerodrome south of Soissons; at Cachy and at Ham, on
the Somme; at Senard, in the rolling wooded country at the foot of the Ar-
gonne Forest. Chouteau could probably make from memory a relief map of
the Western Front, marking in all of the aerodromes and the best landing-
sites, in case of a panne de moteur. Some of these possible landing-fields he
chose by experimenting with impossible ones, and others he had the luck to
find at the first try; for he had more than his share of motor trouble during
his seventeen months at the Front.
He gained his first and last official victory, on April 26, 191 7, during a
weird and exciting battle among the clouds. A patrol of Lafayette men led
by Lieutenant Thaw met an Albatross formation almost directly over the
lines, in the most forlorn and desolate region of the Somme battle-fields.
The two patrols were at the same height, and with motors wide open both
started evenly in the race for the altitude advantage. The sky was filled with
heaped-up masses of April cloud which made it impossible for the machines
to keep together. The opposing formations were broken up, and instead of a
general battle with the odds about even, there was a series of battles, single
machines and groups of two or three meeting suddenly in narrow canons of
clear azure, barely avoiding collisions, firing at point-blank, and then dis-
appearing with equal suddenness through towering cliffs of vapor to meet
again a moment later, in some distant pool of blue sky. It was like a frontier
affair in early Western days, with clouds instead of rocks for cover, and
machine guns instead of Winchesters for weapons. Johnson ambushed one
of the Albatross and riddled it before the pilot was able to escape. Willis
Haviland shot down another. Both victories were confirmed before the
patrol had returned to the aerodrome.
After nearly a year and a half of patrol work at the Front, Johnson felt
the need of relaxation. He had seen nearly all of his old comrades killed.
With the exception of William Thaw, he has probably attended more funeral
ceremonies for aviators than any other man in the Lafayette Corps. A very
little of that sort of duty is far more than enough, and but few men could
have performed it with Chouteau's stoicism. Finally, having been offered a
post as flying instructor at the American Aviation School at Tours, he de-
cided to accept it. He was commissioned First Lieutenant in the United
States Army, and in the early summer of 1918, raised to the rank of Captain
and sent on duty to the United States.
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SERVICE RECORD
Harry F. Johnson, South Bethlehem, Penn-
sylvania*
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 25, 19 17.
Aviation Schools: August I to December 10,
191 7, Avord, Tours, Pau,
G.D.E.
Breveted: October 1, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille N. 85, December 12,
1917, to January 9, 1918.
Escadrille N. 98, January 9 to
February 16, 1918.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Wounded in combat: January 20, 19 1 8.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: April 12, 191 8.
At the Front: Attached to the French Squadron
Spad 168, April 12 to May 21,
1918.
Killed in line of duty: May 21, 1918.
Decorations:
Medaille Militaire.
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATION
Au G.Q.G., le 3 fevrier, 1918
La Medaille Militaire a ete confereau
Caporal Johnson, Harry (active), i e Groupe d'Aviation, Pilote a rEscadrille N. 98
De nationality etrangere, s'est engage dans TArmee Francaise et a ete design e sur sa
demande pour servir dans Paviation. Quoique arrive depuis peu sur le front, comme pilote
dans une escadrille de chasse, s'est deja fait remarquer par son audace et son entrain. Le 20
Janvier, 1918, attaque par 4 avions ennemis, s'est vaillamment defendu. Grievement blesse au
cours du combat, a eu Penergie de ramener son appareil dans nos lignes.
La presente nomination comporte Fattribution de la Croix de Guerre avec Palme.
Le General Commandant en Chef, P.O. le Major-General
(Signe) P. Anthoine
HARRY F. JOHNSON
JOHNSON rapidly finished the courses at Tours, Avord, and Pau, and on
December 12, 191 7, was sent to the Front, first to the N. 85 and later
to the N. 98. On January 20, 191 8, in a plucky fight against heavy odds,
he was shot through the stomach, and exhibited fine courage and coolness
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HARRY F. JOHNSON
by landing his machine undamaged at a French hospital. For this feat he was
awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Medaille Militaire. During his conval-
escence he was commissioned First Lieutenant in the United States Air
Service, and on April 12 he returned to the Front, this time to the Spad 168.
On May 21, at 10.30 in the morning, Johnson was on patrol with Cassady
and several others, flying at 4500 meters well into the German lines before
Suippes. Cassady was leading the formation, and suddenly he saw Johnson's
FUNERAL OF HARRY F. JOHNSON
machine range alongside and give the signal which meant motor trouble. The
next moment the Spad banked and planed out of sight toward the lines. His
comrades never again saw Johnson alive. A few moments later some French
soldiers in the first-line trenches were astonished to see a Spad about to land,
the pilot waving to them to get out of the way. It was Johnson. His machine
struck in the midst of a great thicket of barbed wire which sheared off the
landing-gear and caused the Spad to turn over end for end. Johnson was
thrown out and suffered a fracture of the spine. He never regained conscious-
ness and died a few moments later. Beside Phelps Collins, in the quiet ceme-
tery of Mont Frenet, Johnson sleeps in the soil of France, the soil he died to
defend.
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SERVICE RECORD
Archibald Johnston, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 19 16,
Service in French Aviation:
Date 0} enlistment: July 28, 1916.
Aviation Schools: August 15, 19 16, to April 24,
1917, Buc, Juvisy, Avord,
Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: January 25, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 83, April 27 to
September 12, 19 18.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Captain: December 23, 191 7.
Chief Instructor Aerial Gunnery School, Gerst-
ner Field, Louisiana, and Don Field, Florida.
Adviser on compilation of textbooks, Wilbur
Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm and Star.
CITATION
Le 18 octobre, 191 7
Le Chef d'fitat-Major de la 2 mc Armee cite a POrdre de V Aeronautique:
Johnston, Archibald, M lc 11844, Sergent Pilote a PEscadrille N. 83
Sujet americain, apres avoir servi 3 mois dans la Section Sanitaire Americaine N° 3, sur le
front de Verdun, s'est ensuite engage dans Paviation. Des son arrivee a PEscadrille a ete vo-
lontaire pour toutes les missions et a su faire honneur a son pays en donnant a ses camarades
francais Texemple de courage et de Tabnegation.
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ARCHIBALD JOHNSTON
A HAPPY faculty for getting out of trouble is largely responsible for
Archibald Johnston's long and useful career in French and American
Aviation. It was a dependable faculty too. It never failed him at
critical moments, and there were many of these, both while in training and
at the Front. His first real difficulties began at Buc when he had almost fin-
ished his brevet flights. There remained but a single long voyage and his alti-
tude test. The weather was abominable, and after vainly waiting for a decent
day, he slipped into Paris, as many another man had done, for an afternoon
on the boulevards. He had never any luck, however, and this occasion was
no exception. The weather cleared about two hours after he had left camp.
Flying recommenced and before he could return, his absence was noted.
For this breach of discipline he was proposed by the Commandant for radia-
tion from the Air Service, and sent to Dijon for that purpose. After much
agonized explaining, he softened the heart of the Commandant at Dijon who
sent him to Juvisy to complete his training. This was during the bitterly cold
winter of 1916-17, when flying in all of the aviation schools of northern
France was almost at a standstill. Johnston made his altitude test in the
worst of it. Twice he came down with a frozen oil pump; the third time, a tail
mast on his G. 3 gave way, and the fourth he had a panne <T essence. He suc-
ceeded at his fifth attempt.
His career at the Front was marked by much hard luck and the same dog-
ged persistency in overcoming it. On May 30, 1917, shortly after his arrival
there, he had the worst of an argument with a German, spun a vrille half a
mile long, and landed in the French lines with a badly damaged radiator.
He was next heard of at Verdun, where he and a French flying partner of his
squadron gained high praise for a series of raids far into enemy territory,
where they disorganized the German motor transport service and machine-
gunned troop columns on the roads.
Throughout the war he was the only American pilot in his Squadron Spad
83. He was well liked by his French comrades, and like many other volun-
teers, did not transfer to the United States Service without many regrets.
His service with the French had well qualified him to be an instructor in
aerial gunnery, and after receiving his commission in the U.S.A.S. he was
on duty in this capacity at Gerstner Field, Louisiana, and at Don Field,
Florida. At the close of the war he was adviser on the compilation of text-
books at Wilbur Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio.
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SERVICE RECORD
Charles Maury Jones, Rcdbank, New Jersey.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: March 26, 19 17.
Aviation Schools: April I to August 12, 19 17,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: June 16, 191 7 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 73, August 15,
1917, to January 21, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: January, 1918.
Promoted Captain: October 3, 1918.
At the Front: 103d Pursuit Squadron, January
22 to June 8, 191 8.
13th Pursuit Squadron, June 12
to August 13, 191 8.
CO. 28th Pursuit Squadron Au-
gust 13, 1918, to Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
CITATION
G.Q.G., £tat-Major. Le 17 novembre, 191 8
M. Jones, Maury, M k 11 550, Lieutenant, Pilote a PEscadrille Americaine 103
Excellent chef de patrouille. A livre en juin, 191 8, de nombreux combats loin dans les
lignes ennemies, mettant chaque fois Tennemi en fuite.
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CHARLES MAURY JONES
WHEN Maury Jones first came to the Bleriot Division of the £cole
Militaire at Avord, French moniteurs looked him over skeptically.
All of them, from the Chef de Piste to the penguin moniteurs ', gave
expression to their despair, one to
the other, in those little exclamations
which are so eloquent in French. " Ah !
Non!" "Mais il est impossible, celui-
la ! " and the like. It was not that Jones
was thought poor material. But there
was too much of him. There was n't
a Bleriot in the entire school large
enough to fit him. How he ever man-
aged to crowd into a penguin no one
but himself knows ; and it was not until
after his fourth try that he found a
brevet machine capable of flying with
him for an hour at 2000 meters. De-
spite his handicap of size, he finished
his training in quick time and was sent
to the French Escadrille Spad 73. He
served at the Front with this squadron
until he received his transfer to the
U.S.A.S., and was then sent to the
, a o , , 1 1 t- MAURY JONES AND CHARLES BIDDLE AT
103d Aero Squadron, the old Lsca- avord - penguin class
drille Lafayette, located at La Ferme
de la Noblette on the Champagne Front. He took part here in many an his-
toric patrol. He carried no personal insignia on his Spad. It was n't neces-
sary. He could always be recognized in the air by the height of his head
above his wind-shield. He offered an ample target to enemy chasse-pilotes,
but the Fates have been mighty kind to Maury. He flew at the Front for
more than a year without stopping a bullet, which is an unusual record for
a combat pilot. Advanced in rank to a Captaincy, he was commanding
the 28th Pursuit Squadron at the end of the war.
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SERVICE RECORD
Henry Sweet Jones, Harford, Pennsylvania.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 191 6.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: October 27, 1 91 6.
Aviation Schools: November 28, 19 16, to May 10,
191 7, Buc, £tampes, Avord,
Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: March 16, 1917 (Maurice Farman).
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette, May 12,
1917, to February 18, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: January, 1918.
At the Front: 103d Pursuit Squadron, February
18 to June 1, 1918.
On duty in U.S.A. as Instructor and Experi-
mental Tester, July 1, 191 8, until Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with two Stars.
CITATIONS
Le 14 Janvier, 191 8
IV C Armee, £tat-Major.
Le Chef d'£tat-Major de la IV e Armee cite a
TOrdre du Service Aeronautique:
Jones, Henri, Sergent M k 11969 de l'Escadrille Lafayette (Groupe de Combat 13)
Citoyen americain, engage dans l'Aeronautique le 27 novembre, 191 6. Tres bon piiote
de chasse, a fait preuve en maintes circonstances de beaucoup d'allant et de sang-froid. Le
I octobre, 191 7, attaque par plusieurs monoplaces ennemis, est rentre avec son appareil
tres gravement endommage. Le 31 octobre, a force un appareil ennemi a atterrir desempare
dans ses lignes.
Le Chef d'fitat-Major de la IV e Armee
Pettelate
Grand Quartier-General des Armees
du Nord et du Nord-Est. Le 17 novembre, 191 8
Apres approbation du General Commandant en Chef les Forces expeditionnaires americaines
en France, le General Commandant en Chef les Armees Francaises du Nord et du Nord-
Est cite a POrdre du Regiment:
M. Jones, Henry S., Lieutenant, Piiote a PEscadrille Americain 103
Excellent piiote qui a livre, en juin, 1918, de nombreux combats victorieux, a Pinterieur
des lignes ennemies.
Le General Commandant en Chef
Petain
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HENRY SWEET JONES
A WEEK after his enlistment in the Lafayette Flying Corps, Henry
Jones made an exhibition flight in a Bleriot which became historic
in the annals of the Buc School. For several days he had been making
rolling sorties on the ground, tame sport for an eleve-pilote eager to fly. Henry
believed that he could fly, and so giving his six-cylinder Anzani "grass-
cutter" full gas he came sailing back across the field at about fifty meters
altitude. In a two-minute flight he put a Bleriot through maneuvers which
would have astonished Pegoud, the old master pilot of that craft. But when
he came down — 01 Id Id! There have been some magnificent crashes on the
Buc field, but never a better one than his. He was then sent to the Farman
School, and afterward, to the surprise of his old Bleriot moniteurs, finished
his training in a very brilliant manner on Nieuport and Spad.
During his first two months at the Front he spent seventy hours in combat
patrols over the lines, an unusually good record even for an old pilot. Some
of the best enemy chasse squadrons were operating on the sector then, and all
the aces of the Imperial German Air Force — as he believed — sat on his
tail at one time and another. Nevertheless, he went blithely through his
apprenticeship and the enemy anti-aircraft and machine-gun fire, gaining
an experience in combat tactics which was of great value to him during a
long period of service with Spad 124.
On rainy days, when life at the Front was a dull sort of business, he was
always the liveliest of the crowd in the popote. He was never known to have
the cafardj that "home-sickness-blues" disease, the almost universal plague
among flying men in dull weather. Give him a last year's copy of the Satur-
day Evening Post and a bottle of pinard, and the world might wag as it
would. When the pinard gave out he invented substitutes, the one which
proved most nearly fatal being bay rum, olive oil, and vinegar. He loved to
hear the rain pattering on the tar-paper roof, and there were but few avia-
tors of any experience to whom that sound was not often most welcome.
Temps aeronautique it was called. It meant relaxation, and a brief release
from the strain of combat patrols. But when the sky cleared again, Henry
was always ready for work. He dodged A-A shells from Dunkirk to the
Vosges, and at length in the summer of 191 8 was sent on duty to the United
States. He served as a flying instructor and experimental tester at Carlstrom
Field, Arcadia, Florida, and elsewhere until after the close of the war.
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SERVICE RECORD
David E. Judd, Brooklinc, Massachusetts.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 3, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: June 30 to November 26, 1917, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 1, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 73, December 1 to December 18, 1917.
Escadrille Spad 3, December 18, 1917, to January 22, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Naval Aviation:
Commissioned Ensign, January 23, 1918.
Promoted Lieutenant (Junior Grade).
At the Front: U.S. Naval Air Station, Dunkirk.
Attached to 218th Day Bombing Squadron, British R.A.F.
Northern Bombing Group, U.S.N.A.S.
On duty in America: September 22, 1918, to Armistice.
r
DAVID E. JUDD
T is a matter of regret that so
little detailed information is ob-
tainable regarding the Lafayette
men who joined the Navy. In bomb-
ing squadrons on the Front and pilot-
ing hydro-aeroplanes on the Channel
and on the Adriatic Sea, they must
have had many experiences which
would be of interest in the records of
the Corps. Judd is one of the men
concerning whose later service there
is little information. Like Wellman
and Ovington, he was trained on the
double command Bleriot, where he
developed into an excellent pilot, and
at Pau he earned the best of notes.
During the last month of his French
service he was a member of the
famous Escadrille Spad 3, of the
Cigognes groupe. He then served at
the U.S. Naval Air Station at Dun-
SERGENT JUDD (right) AND ADJUDANT j^rk j th t L RAF DaV Bomb-
de curnieu AT avord Kir*, witn uic rw\.r . Ls*y poind-
ing Squadron No. 218, and with the
Northern Bombing Group of the U.S. Navy. He was promoted from Ensign
to Lieutenant, junior grade, and in September was sent to the United
States for duty as instructor.
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SERVICE RECORD
Hugo N. Kenyon, Peacedale, Rhode Island.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1916-17.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 5, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: July 19, 1917, to March, 1918, Avord, Juvisy, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 16, 191 7 (Caudron).
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant, April 26, 19 18.
Promoted First Lieutenant November 6, 19 18.
At the Front: 103d Pursuit Squadron, June 1, 1918, to Armistice.
HUGO N. KENYON
II KE many of the Lafayette men, Kenyon is a thorough-going cosmo-
politan, the sort of man who is equally at home in Chili or Ceylon,
~m and knows intimately all the prominent citizens of Tierra del Fuego.
His adventurous and roving disposition brought him to Europe before our
declaration of war, and after a term in the American Ambulance, he enlisted
in the Lafayette Flying Corps in July, 191 7. While at Pau, Kenyon's Nieu-
port caught fire at 3000 meters, and he displayed remarkable courage and
coolness in landing safely and removing cushion and instruments before
beating a retreat from the flames. On the Front, Kenyon's most exciting ex-
periences have been with the 103d Pursuit Squadron, where he did a great
deal of hedge-hopping chez Us Boches during the heavy fighting on the
American sectors.
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SERVICE RECORD
Charles W. Kerwood, Bryn Mawr, Pennsyl-
vania.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: February 18, 19 17.
Aviation Schools: February 25 to November 18,
1917, Avord, G.D.E.
Breveted: August 26, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Br. 117, November 21,
1 91 7, to March 31, 191 8.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Prisoner in Germany: March 31, 191 8, to Armi-
stice. Wounded in at-
^ tempting escape.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
CITATION
Le 26 avril, 191 8
G.A.R., Aeronautique Militaire,
ESCADRE 12.
Le Chef d'Escadron Vuillemin, Commandant
TEscadre de Bombardement N° 12, cite
a TOrdre de TEscadre 12 les militaires
dont les noms suivent:
Le Sergent Pilote Kerwood, Charles Wayne
(active, Legion Etrangere), detachc a
l'Escadrille 117 (G.B. 5)
Tres bon pilote, audacieux et courageux. Citoyen americain, engage volontaire dans la
Legion. S'est souvent distingue au cours de missions difficiles, notamment dans la journee
du 5 fevrier, 1918, au cours d'une mission lointaine.
(Signf) Vuillemin
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CHARLES W. KERWOOD
THE most interesting narrative of the life of an American volunteer
airman in the French Service which could be compiled would be a
stenographic record of the casual conversations in messrooms and
barracks of Charles Kerwood. Unfortunately his Boswells were all pilots or
observers, and trop fatigues after patrol time to write up their diaries. The
BAER, PELTON, DE KRUIJFF, AND KERWOOD. CAP£ D'AVORD, APRIL, 1917
world is the loser thereby, for Kerwood had many strange adventures and a
rare gift for telling of them amusingly.
On March 31, 1918, he was reported killed in combat in the region of
Montdidier, and there was deep sorrow throughout the entire Lafayette
Corps. Lieutenant Manderson Lehr made the following report on the flight
in which Kerwood was brought down :
"Three of us started out on a bombardment expedition. On account of the
clouds, we were flying at 800 meters, when upon entering a cloud-bank we
separated for fear of running into each other. When we came out of it we were
far distant from each other. Again, just before we came to the German lines
we entered another cloud. I came out first and looked round for the others,
but could not see them, so went on alone to do work assigned to me. I
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CHARLES W. KERWOOD
dropped down to 700 meters, and getting over my objective, bombarded the
field. Then I went to the right and saw Kerwood in the distance. I immedi-
ately set out and caught up to him. On the way, still at 700 meters, I went
through a cloud, and when I came out I saw four Boches come down on him
from behind. I immediately became engaged in combat, and when I turned
I saw Kerwood below me. He was at about 300 meters, piquing for the
French lines. I could not see any German immediately upon him; he seemed
to have his machine under control, but when I started to catch up to him
he suddenly dropped. I think a luminous bullet must have struck him, but
cannot ascertain whether he was wounded or forced to land on account of
motor trouble. He always said that if he had to die he would like it to be in
combat."
A few weeks later some of his friends, prisoners of war in Germany, passing
through a civil prison in Landshut, Bavaria, saw the name "Charles Ker-
wood" scribbled all over the walls of a cell there. This was their first news
that he had survived his combat, and was more welcome to them than their
first Red Cross food parcels from Berne. While a prisoner he made one at-
tempt to escape, and was shot by a camp guard. The wound healed and he
came limping into Paris after the Armistice with the German bullet still in
his leg.
Kerwood ought to have fifty-odd years ahead of him and as many annual
reunions of the Lafayette Corps. There are some old pilots who will gather
there chiefly to hear him tell again of that first memorable bombing raid of
his, when, acting as observer and machine-gunner for Manderson Lehr, he
dropped all of his bombs at once, and thus, according to his own version of
the story, blew up single-handed a whole German village.
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SERVICE RECORD
Charles M. Kinsolving, Washington, D.C.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1917.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 13, 1917.
Aviation Schools: July 19 to November 19, 1917,
Avord, Tours, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 25, 19 1 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Br. 117, November 21,
1917, to February 25, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U. S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: February 25,
1918.
At the Front: Assigned to French Squadron Br.
117, February 25 to June 16,
1918.
Instructor at American A.I.C. at Clermont-
Ferrand, June 18 to September 28, 191 8.
CO. 163d Day Bombing Squadron, September
30, 191 8, to Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
CITATION
G.A.R., AeRONAUTIQUE MlLITAIRE, ESCADRE 12. Le 2 avrtl, I918
Le Chef d'Escadron Vuillemin, Commandant TEscadre de Bombardement N° 12, cite a
TOrdre de TEscadre les militaires dont les noms suivent: . . .
Le i cr Lieutenant de PArmee Americaine Kinsolving, Charles (active, Legion fitrangere),
detache a l'Escadrille 117 (G.B. 5)
Officier americain d'un sang-froid, d'un courage, et d'un allant exemplaires. Engage volon-
taire dans la Legion le 17 juillet, 191 7. A execute en peu de temps de nombreux bombarde-
ments dont plusieurs a grande distance.
(Signe) Vuillemin
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CHARLES M. KINSOLVING
KINSOLVING is one of the few pioneer Breguet day bombardment
pilots still alive, and is, incidentally, the only diplomat in the
Lafayette Corps. He is equally at home in Washington, Philadel-
phia, or Brazil. Before enlisting in the Aviation, he had seen service in Sec-
tion 4 of the American Ambulance. While training at Tours on Caudron he
was placed in charge of the American eleves, and it is said that he ruled the
boys with an iron hand. With his friend Joe Wilson, he went to Plessis-
Belleville as an accredited performer on the complex and delicate manettes
of the G. 4, and in November, 1917, he was assigned to the famous Escadrille
Br. 117. While with this squadron, Kinsolving was awarded the Croix de
Guerre. To honor the occasion fittingly he exercised a little of his diplomatic
skill, borrowed the squadron automobile, and gave his comrades a memor-
able dinner at a near-by Red Cross hospital. In February, 191 8, Kinsolving
transferred to the American army, but continued to serve with his French
squadron until June, when he was sent to Clermont-Ferrand as instructor.
In September, after many requests, he succeeded in getting to the Front
once more — this time as commander of the 163d Day Bombardment
Squadron, with which unit he served until the cessation of hostilities.
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SERVICE RECORD
Theodore de Kruijff, New York City.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: March 20, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: March 20 to December 4,
191 7, Avord, Pau, Cazeaux,
G.D.E.
Breveted: August 6, 19 17 (Nieuport).
At the Front: Escadrille N. 158, December 6,
1917, to May 21, 1918.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant: May 21,1918.
American Acceptance Park, Orly, June 6 to
July 5, 1918.
American A.I.C. Romorantin, July 5 to No-
vember i, 191 8.
Died of pneumonia at Paris, November 6, 191 8.
THEODORE de KRUIJFF
THEODORE de KRUIJFF was one of the few Americans who en-
tered the French Aviation Service with previous flying experience.
He was breveted on a Curtiss machine, in Buffalo, New York. While
flying with a pupil at that place, his machine crashed to the ground, de
Kruijff breaking his leg in the fall. On his recovery he continued flying at
Newport News until January, 1917, when he came to France and volun-
teered in the Lafayette Corps. His injured leg gave him much trouble, but
he completed his training and was sent with Rufus Rand to the Front to
the N. 158, a French squadron.
Randall, Edgar, and Hobbs joined them shortly afterward, and the work
of the five Americans won high praise from their French officers. After his
transfer to the United States Air Service, de Kruijff was sent to the American
Acceptance Park at Orly Field, just outside Paris, where he served as a ferry
pilot. On November 6, 1918, he died of pneumonia at the American Military
Hospital No. 1 at Paris.
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SERVICE RECORD
George Marion Kyle, Los Angeles, California.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 27, 19 17.
Aviation Schools: July 6 to December 24, 191 7,
Avord, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 17, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Br. 117, December 26,
191 7, to February 18, 191 8.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: February 19,
1918.
At the Front: Attached to French Squadron Br.
117, February 18 to July 1, 1918.
On duty as Instructor, American A.I.C., Cler-
mont-Ferrand, July 1, 1918, to Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
CITATION
Le 2 avril, 1918
G.A.R., Aeronautique Militaire.
Le Chef d'Escadron Vuillemin, Commandant PEscadre de Bombardement N° 12, cite a
TOrdre de TEscadre les militaires dont les noms suivent: . . .
Le i er Lieutenant de l'Armee americaine Kyle, George Marion (active, Legion fitrangere),
detache a l'Escadrille 117 (G.B. 5)
Officier americain d'un allant et d'un courage exemplaires. Des son arrivee a rescadrille
a execute plusieurs bombardements de jours dans des circonstances difficiles. S'est particu-
lierement distingue le 5 fevrier, 191 8, au cours d'une expedition comportant le bombarde-
ment d'un objectif eloigne.
(Stgnf) Vuillemin
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GEORGE MARION KYLE
SINGLE-SEATER pilots are a clannish lot and apt to make light of
other branches of Aviation, not realizing the courage and skill of the
day bombers, nor the long, intensive training they require. Sometimes
when a flight of Breguets, in beautiful wing-to-wing formation passes over
a chasse aerodrome, the pilots glance upwards for a moment and murmur a
careless compliment; but the fact is that, compared to day bombers, the
single-seater men are mere beginners in the art of formation flying.
A BRfiGUET BOMBER
Kyle is one of the small group of Americans who went in for day bombing,
a curiously alliterative crew as one runs over the names: Clapp, Kyle, Ker-
wood, Cotton, and Kinsolving. Ash and Lehr were also bombers, and they
like Clapp have given their lives; all have given the best in them with a fine
uniformity.
Kyle's first experiences of the Front were in Lorraine, where his squadron
was making reprisal raids into Germany, operating with the British Inde-
pendent Air Force. One of his most interesting sorties was a raid on Saar-
briick in reply to the German bombardment of Paris on January 21, 1918.
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GEORGE MARION KYLE
His group went over in three flights of ten each and dropped a total of 350
bombs on German territory. Kyle's squadron formed the rear guard. On
the way over they could see swarms of German chasse planes, rising from
their aerodromes to the attack. As the Breguets were at 17,000 feet, the
Germans were unable to rise to their level until the objective had been
reached and the bombs dropped, but as they turned to regain the lines, Kyle
saw the air thick with Albatross, among which the machines of Richtofen's
group, with their red noses and decorated fuselages, were conspicuous.
The return flight, over a distance of seventy kilometers must have been
epic, though Kyle dismisses it with a simple statement that his squadron
shot down three Boches and returned without the loss of a man.
On May 3, while bombing some German aerodromes, Kyle looked over the
side of the carlingue and witnessed a wonderful single combat between a
Spad and an Albatross, — a combat which ended in a spin and fatal crash
for the enemy. As the Spad soared upwards victorious, Kyle recognized by
the number and insignia on its side that it was Alan Nichols, his old com-
rade of the Ambulance, and in the aviation schools, who had shot down
the German.
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SERVICE RECORD
G. de Freest Larner, Washington, D.C.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 10, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: July 19 to December 1, 191 7,
Avord, Tours, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 28, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 86, December 3,
191 7, to April 1, 191 8.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: April 24, 191 8.
Promoted Captain: November 8, 191 8.
At the Front: Attached to the French Squadron
Spad 86, April 24 to June 15,
1918.
Flight Commander, 103d Pursuit
Squadron, June 16, 1918, to
Armistice.
Decorations:
Distinguished Service Cross, with Bronze Oak
Leaf.
Croix de Guerre, with two Palms.
CITATIONS
6 e Armee, £tat-Major. Le 1 avril, 1918
M. Larner, G. de Freest, i er Lieutenant de TAnnee americaine a PEscadrille Spa. 86
Entre dans l'Aviation francaise comme engage volontaire, y a toujours montre les plus
belles qualites de pilote de chasse. Le . . . a attaque seul une patrouille de 3 monoplaces
ennemis et abattu Tun d'eux en flammes.
(Signe) Duchene
Au Q.G.A., le 24 avril, 191 8
Le General Commandant la 3 me Armee cite a POrdre de TArmee:
Le i er Lieutenant de TArmee americaine G. de Freest Larner, de l'Escadrille Spa. 86
A triomphe d'un biplace ennemi qui s'est ecrase en flammes dans ses lignes.
(Signe) Humbert
G.H.Q., A.E.F., 4th December, 1918
First Lieutenant, Gorman de Freest Larner, 103d Aero Squadron
For extraordinary heroism in action in the region of Champeny, France, 13 September,
191 8. Lieutenant Larner attacked an enemy patrol of six machines (Fokker type) and fought
against the great odds until he had destroyed one and forced another to retire.
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G. de FREEST LARNER
A Bronze Leaf:
For extraordinary heroism in action in the region of Montfaucon, France, 4 October, 191 8.
While leading a patrol of four tnonoplace planes, Lieutenant Lamer led his patrol in an attack
on an enemy formation of seven planes. By skillful maneuvering he crashed one of the enemy
machines and with the aid of his patrol forced the remainder of the enemy formation to
withdraw.
By Order of General Pershing
E
G. de FREEST LARNER
ARNER enlisted in the Lafayette Flying Corps after the United
States Signal Corps had refused him on account of his youth. He
arrived at the Front on December 3, 191 7, assigned to the Escadrille
LARNER'S SPAD
Spad 86. Except for a few days in the following spring, when transferring to
the American army, he served continuously at the Front until the Armistice
— fighting through every important battle of the last year. With the French,
and as a Flight Commander in the 103d Pursuit Squadron, Lamer shot down
and was officially credited with eight enemy planes, and his friends say that
he has many other victories — too far chez Boches to be seen by our observ-
ers. He has seen the aerial war from every angle, and through it all he never
lost his keen aggressiveness, nor missed a chance to fly. His splendid service
has not gone unrecognized, for he has been awarded the Croix de Guerre, with
two Palms, and the D.S.C., with an Oak Leaf. Since the Armistice he has
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G. de FREEST LARNER
been proposed for an additional French citation to the order of the Army,
and the Legion of Honor — the highest honor France has to bestow on an
officer.
Lamer' s real baptism of fire was in the German offensive of March 21,
191 8. Let him tell of it in his own words:
" I feel queer and weak and happy after my experiences of the past few
days — especially after this morning's happenings. For three quarters of an
hour I was lost in a fog — thirty kilometers behind the German lines. I was
never higher than 500 meters, and thought I was surely a goner! Once I
found an aviation field and started to land when I saw that it was full of
Boche planes . . . then I realized where I was. A little later I met a Gotha in
the air and found another field where a German sausage was tied to the
ground — that meant I was getting close to the lines. Before long I saw the
smoke of burning Noyon and the gunners began to shell me. . . .
"This offensive is proving the most instructive, the most exhausting, and
the most thrilling experience I ever expect to have. . . . The Germans con-
tinued their push, demoralizing all the French and English communications.
This was serious — they were in a fair way to split the two armies apart
before help could arrive. All the French balloons were brought down, mak-
ing it impossible to tell what was going on behind the enemy lines, and all
our aviation fields had to be abandoned. No telephones, no balloons, no
observation planes — we did not even know the location of our own lines.
Two escadrilles of Breguets and our groupe were the only ones available in
the first confusion. We have been doing reconnaissance, infantry liaison, and
machine-gunning troops and convoys, at altitudes ranging from twenty to
five hundred meters, and far in the enemy lines. It is all too vast for me to
describe — the burning towns; exploding ammunition dumps, abandoned by
the French; dead horses and men, scattered along the roads; the hammer-
blows of machine guns, shooting up fountains of fiery bullets as you sweep
low overhead.
"To-day the French Front is holding. It does my heart good to see
the steady flash of our guns — the firing is a mighty roar by day and by
night "
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SERVICE RECORD
Schuyler Lee, New London, Connecticut.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 19 17.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 1, 1917.
Aviation Schools: August 16, 1917, to January 8,
1918, Avord, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 21, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 96, January 10 to
April 12, 1918.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Killed in combat: April 12, 191 8, east of Mont-
didier.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATION
Le 13 juillet, 1918
Lee, Schuyler, M fc 12381, Caporal du
Regiment de Marche de la Legion fitran-
gere, pilote a TEscadrille Spad 96; Pilote
Americain, engage volontaire dans PAr-
mee Francaise.
Des son arrivee en escadrille s'est distingue
par son courage et son allant, notamment le
3 fevrier, 1918, oil il a contribue a abattre un avion ennemi. A ete tres grievement blesse,
le 12 avril, 1918, au cours d'un combat aerien.
SCHUYLER LEE
OUIET and reserved in manner, one had to know Schuyler Lee or to
see him in action to realize the dash and audacity that lay concealed
under his self-effacement. Once in the north, while flying a Nieuport,
he fell in with a large patrol of Fokker triplanes — among the first which
appeared on the Front — and after a sensational combat in which his gun
jammed hopelessly, he managed by a miracle of skill and luck to extricate
himself and return to the field, his machine fairly cut to pieces by bullets.
But this coup dur merely served to increase his ardor, and among his com-
rades he became known as a volunteer for every dangerous mission. At last,
on the 1 2th of April, to the east of Montdidier, while Lee was guarding the
rear of a Spad patrol, a Fokker triplane stole up behind him unperceived.
A short fatal burst, a wild turn, and Schuyler was spinning earthward, killed
in his seat, his comrades say.
Had he lived, he would have gone far — there can be no doubt of that —
for he had the skill, the courage, and the aggressive spirit which make a
great fighting pilot.
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SERVICE RECORD
Manderson Lehr, Albion, Nebraska.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 3, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: June 10 to November 18, 1917,
Avord, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 3, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Br. 117, November 21,
1917, to March 15, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: March 15, 1918.
At the Front: Attached to French Squadron Br.
117 March 15 to July 15, 1918.
Killed in combat: July 15, 1918, near Chateau-
Thierry.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm and Star.
CITATIONS
G.A.R., Aeronautique Militaire
Escadre 12. he 4 avril, 1918
Le Chef d'Escadre Vuillemin, Commandant PEscadre de Bombardement N° 12, cite a TOrdre
de PEscadre, les militaires dont les noms suivent: . . .
Le Sergent Pilote Lehr, Manderson (active, Legion fitrangere), detache a PEscadrille
Br. 117 (G.B. 5)
Citoyen americain plein d'allant, de courage, et d'adresse. Excellent pilote. A execute en
peu de temps de nombreux bombardements dont plusieurs a grande distance.
(Signs) Vuillemin
G. Q.G.j le 30 octobre, 191 8
I er Lieutenant Lehr, Manderson, Pilote a PEscadrille Br. 117
Pilote admirable par son courage et son adresse, son mepris du danger. Affirme a nouveau
ses belles qualites le 15 juillet, 191 8, en effectuant une mission de bombardement du champ
de bataille a faible altitude. Attaque par une dizaine d'avions ennemis sur Pobjectif a sou-
tenu un combat terrible, et bien que grievement blesse, a pu grace a son sang-froid ramener
son avion en territoire fran^aise, en traversant les premiers lignes a moins de 100 metres
d'altitude sous un feu de barrage d'une extreme violence.
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MANDERSON LEHR
LEHR was the old-fashioned type of American boy: full of spirit,
cleverness, and dry humor. With him one was never dull. During the
-* long evenings at Avord, he amused a whole barrack-full of comrades
with his absurdities, imitations of cows, pigs, roosters, and country dialect.
"Bud" was a splendid pilot and one of the most fearless men in the Corps.
When given a mission to perform, he carried it through at any cost.
Lehr met his death on July 15, 191 8, during the heavy fighting along
the Marne. Driving a Breguet, he was on a day-bombing mission, and had
dropped his thirty-two bombs on the bridges across which the Germans were
making their rush southward. As he turned to make his way back to his
aerodrome, he became separated, among the clouds, from the rest of his
formation. Suddenly ten Albatross came diving down on the Breguet, and
after a violent combat, during which Lehr's motor was hit, he was heading
for the lines when a last unlucky burst gave him a mortal wound. His ob-
server, the French Lieutenant Carles, succeeded in gaining some control over
the machine, and managed to cross the lines and land in a rough wooded
field. On landing, the machine turned over, the observer was thrown out, and
very seriously injured, and Lehr, who by this time was dead, found a funeral
pyre in the flaming wreck of his Breguet. The value of his service and the
esteem in which his French comrades held him are shown by the fact that at
the time of his death, he was proposed for the Legion of Honor.
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SERVICE RECORD
David Wilbur Lewis, Brooklyn, New York.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 191 5.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 21, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 21, 19 17, to February 24,
1918, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: November 13, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 79, February 27
to March 29, 19 18.
Final Rank: Cap oral.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant: March 29,
1918.
At the Front: Attached to the French Squadron
Spad 79, April 24 to September
22, 1918.
On duty at Colombey-les-Belles,
September 26, 19 18, to Armi-
stice.
Slightly wounded in combat: September 7, 1918.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre t with Star.
CITATION
Le 10 octobre, 191 8
2 me Lieutenant Lewis, David Wilbur, Pilote a TEscadrille 79
A execute de nombreuses reconnaissances a longue portee, a reconnu et mitraille a tres
basse altitude les troupes ennemis. A soutenu de nombreux combats, notamment le i er
aout, 1918, ou, attaque par trois avions, loin dans les lignes erinemies, il a reussi a ramener
son avion crible de balles.
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DAVID WILBUR LEWIS
LEWIS will always be remembered for having made the most sensa-
tional sortie on record, in a 45 H.P. Bleriot. While monitors paled and
-« comrades held up their hands, he made a complete tour de piste at an
altitude of three meters. On the Front, in the Escadrille Spad 79, he did good
work and went through many exciting experiences. Probably his narrowest
escape was on the 7th of September, 191 8, near La Fere. His motor was run-
ning very badly when suddenly he was attacked by four enemy machines of
a new and very fast variety. He brought down the first German in flames
and managed to regain our lines with the other three on his tail, riddling his
machine with bullets at every burst. Landing in the trenches, he took cover
for a few minutes while he rested, and then crawled calmly back to his ma-
chine to remove the instruments.
Lewis served with an escadrille cTarmee which had both Spad single-seaters
for fighting, and Breguets for reconnaissance work. When there were no
chasse patrols to be made, he amused himself with deep photographic recon-
naissances. During the summer of 1918, Lewis and his comic observer were
known at every aerodrome between Amiens and the Marne.
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SERVICE RECORD
Kenneth Proctor Littauer, New York City.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: March 29, 19 16.
Aviation Schools: April 1 to October 14, 19 16,
Pau, Buc, Chateauroux,
G.D.E.
Breveted: July 24, 1916 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille C. 74, October 16, 19 16,
to January 2, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Captain: January 1, 1918.
Promoted Major: November 1, 19 18.
At the Front: Flight Commander 88th Squadron
(Observation), February 15 to
July 1, 1918.
CO. 88th Squadron (Observa-
tion), July 1 to September 20,
1918.
Acting Chief of Air Service 3d
Army Corps, August 20 to Sep-
tember 20, 191 8.
CO. 3d Corps Observation Group,
September 20 to October 24,
1918.
Chief of Air Service, 3d Army
Corps, October 24, 1918, to
Armistice.
Decorations:
Distinguished Service Cross.
Croix de Guerre, with Palm and Star.
Croix de Guerre (Belgium).
Chevalier de VOrdre de Leopold.
CITATIONS
G.H.Q.,A.E.F. 20 January, 1919
The Commander-in-Chief of the American Expeditionary Forces, in the name of the Presi-
dent, has awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism in action, to
Major Kenneth P. Littauer
For repeated acts of heroism in action near Conflans, France, September 14, 191 8, and
near Doulcon, France, October 30, 191 8.
Major Littauer volunteered on a mission to protect a photographic plane for another squad-
ron on September 14 and continued toward the objective at Conflans even after three other
protecting planes had failed to start. In an encounter with five enemy pursuit planes, he com-
pletely protected the photographic plane by skillful maneuvering, although his observer was
wounded and his machine seriously damaged. On October 30, Major Littauer, on duty as
Chief of Air Service of the 3d Corps Army, volunteered and made an important reconnais-
sance of enemy machine-gun emplacements at a low altitude near Doulcon.
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KENNETH PROCTOR LITTAUER
36™* Corps D'Armee, £tat-Major. Le 2$fevrier t 1917
Le Lieutenant-Colonel Chef d'Etat-Major du 36°* Corps d'Armee cite a l'Ordre de TAero-
nautique les militaires dont les noms suivent: . . .
Le Caporal Littauer, Kenneth Proctor, de rEscadrille C. 74
Sujet americain, engage volontaire pour la duree de la guerre, bon pilote, courageux,
devoue, tres militaire. A toujours fait preuve d'energie et de sang-froid, notamment le 8
fevrier, 191 7, au cours d'un combat avec un avion allemand, ou, bien que son appareil ait
ete atteint de plusieurs balles, il a force son adversaire a la retraite.
(Signe) Prunier
Aviation Militaire Belge, £tat-Major. Le 2 septembre, 191 7
Personnel. J'ai Thonneur de porter a la connaissance du personnel de Taviation qu'en
temoignage de services rendus a TArmee Beige, S.M. le Roi a remis hier des distinctions
honorifiques aux aviateurs francais de rEscadrille C 74: . . .
Chevalier de VOrdre de Leopold II:
Sergent Kenneth P. Littauer
(Signe) Paul Bloch
ROYAUME DE BeLGIQUE.
Le Ministre de la Guerre a Thonneur de faire savoir au
Sergent Littauer, Kenneth, de Taviation militaire francaise
Que, par arrete royal du 15 novembre, 191 7, N° 4810, la Croix de Guerre lui a ete decernee.
Pilote de Tescadrille franco-beige C. 74, ne cesse de faire preuve du plus grand courage
et du devouement le plus absolu. A, pour compte de Tarmee beige, plus de 100 heures de vol
au-dessus des lignes ennemies.
Grand Quartier-General des Armees Francaises de
l'Est, £tat-Major. Le 10 Janvier, 1919
Apres approbation du General Commandant en Chef les forces expeditionnaires americaines
en France, le Marechal de France, Commandant en Chef les Armees Francaises de TEst,
cite a l'Ordre de TArmee:
Capitaine Littauer, Commandant TAeronautique du 3 e C.A.U.S.
Commandant Taeronautique d'un corps d'armee americain, a obtenu le rendement
maximum de ses subordonnes, en leur donnant journellement Texemple de la plus belle in-
trepidite. A effectue avec succes de nombreuses liaisons d'infanterie. Le 9 aout et le 4 sep-
tembre, 191 8, a reussi d'importantes missions photographiques que des conditions atmo-
spheriques contraires et le presence de nombreux avions ennemis rendaient tres difficiles. Est
parvenu le 9 aout, par son energie a ramener au terrain un appareil crible d'eclats d'obus.
{Signe) Petain
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KENNETH PROCTOR LITTAUER
LITTAUER, known to Lafayette men as "Kepi," served his appren-
ticeship at the Front on the old, twin-motor Caudron, and was one
Jt of the few men who had actually flown it who could be found to
praise this leisurely and vulnerable bird. With the observer and machine-
gunner in front, the forward field of fire limited to the space between the
propellers, and no protection to the rear worth mentioning, it is a matter for
LITTAUER'S WIND-SHIELD
wonder that any pilot should have survived a long experience with this type
of craft. Kepi did, and accepted with reluctance the newer G. 6 which super-
seded it. This, too, he flew successfully, although it was a temperamental
machine which all pilots hated and which few outlived.
His work with C. 74, a Franco-Belgian squadron, was not of a spectacular
kind, just the day-in, day-out, routine of photo missions, gun-spotting, and
reconnaissance air business which offers little opportunity for brilliant coups
and far more than a just share of the dangers of war flying. Kepi had phe-
nomenal luck, and in addition was a cool and skillful pilot, so that in more
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KENNETH PROCTOR LITTAUER
than two years of continuous service he never failed to bring both his ob-
server and his machine back to his aerodrome, although once his gunner was
badly wounded, and often his bus resembled those riddled hulks used for
targets at the aerial gunnery schools. He canceled one bona fide rendezvous
with death by being a fraction of a second ahead of time. While doing artillery
reglage, he was attacked by several enemy chasse machines. Just as he turned
to watch one of them, a bullet from the gun of another passed squarely
through the center of his wind-shield, missing his head by the thickness of a
cigarette paper. A narrow margin, but oh! the difference to him!
Adventures of this sort, which age many a young pilot prematurely, gave
life a certain zest for him during the fourteen months he spent with C. 74.
He was then transferred to the American Air Force with the rank of Captain,
and, had he wished to do so, might have gone to the rear as an instructor.
But Kepi was no lover of soft billets. Pilots experienced in corps cTarmee work
were badly needed in the United States Air Service, which was dependent for
airmen with actual war experience, in whatever branch, upon the personnel
of the Lafayette Corps. Most of these were combat pilots. The remainder —
a mere handful, Littauer, Zinn, Horton, Worthington — had had wide ex-
perience in corps d'armee work. Kepi was at once placed in command of a
squadron equipped with obsolete two-seaters, which the American authori-
ties had purchased from the French. Not discouraged, he organized his es-
cadrille, himself instructing both his flying and non-flying personnel, and
within a few weeks had developed a genuine working unit. Other squadrons
were attached to him, and he was raised to the rank of Major. Here again, as
always, Kepi did his duty and a little more. He never asked his pilots to
undertake difficult and important missions without himself leading them,
although as a squadron and groupe commander it was really his duty to re-
main on the ground. This practice, of course, endeared him to all of his men,
who gladly followed him anywhere. His squadrons were in the thick of all
of the important American actions: at Chateau-Thierry, the Vesle River,
Saint-Mihiel, Argonne-Meuse, and finally with the Army of Occupation at
Coblenz bridgehead. The decorations conferred upon him by the French,
Belgian, and American Governments partially tell the story of his service to
the Allied cause. But more precious than these, surely, is that other award,
"Wind-shield with hole attached," conferred upon him in his old G. 4 days,
by Chance, C.A.S. of all the armies of the world, including the Scandinavian.
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SERVICE RECORD
Ralph Lane Loomis, Bedford, Massachusetts.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 21, 1917.
Aviation Schools :• July 26, 19 17, to January 1,
19 1 8, Avord, Tours, Caze-
aux, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 21, 1917 (Caudron).
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Naval Aviation:
Commissioned Ensign: January 9, 1918.
At the Front: U.S. Naval Air Station, Dunkirk,
February 14 to August 22, 1918.
RALPH LANE LOOMIS
ENLISTING on July 21, 1917, Loomis was breveted on October 21, and
after passing through Pau and Cazeaux, with excellent notes at both
places, he was disponibU at Le Plessis-Belleville, awaiting his turn to
go to the Front, when word came that he had been released and transferred
to the Navy with the rank of Ensign. The adventures of his career as a naval
flier are hinted at in a letter to Major Gros:
"My work with the Navy consisted in patrols over the North Sea, cover-
ing the channels into Zeebrugge and Ostend, and in bombing raids on the
same places. We were 'Archied' a good deal by destroyers and land anti-
aircraft batteries, but were seldom able to catch the enemy seaplanes outside
for a scrap — they always flew back to the mole as soon as they sighted us.
I arrived at Dunkirk on February 14, 191 8, and my last flight and fight com-
bined was on August 22, when we were withdrawn to allow pilots of the Ma-
rine Corps to take our places — there being a shortage of machines. At that
time we were working with land planes — trusting to our motors 100 miles
at sea and often flying as low as 1000 feet."
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SERVICE RECORD
William F. Looms, Bedford, Massachusetts.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 9, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: June 16 to November 20, 1917,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 28, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 153, November
»3» 19I7> to February 19, 1918.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned as First Lieutenant: February 21,
1918.
At the Front: 94th Pursuit Squadron, March 5
to August 18, 19 1 8.
213th Pursuit Squadron, August
18 to October 22, 191 8.
Decorations :
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
CITATION
Grand Quartier-General des
Armees Franchises de l'Est
£tat-Major. Le 29 novembre y 191 8
Apres approbation du General Commandant en Chef les forces expeditionnaires americaines
en France, le Marechal de France, Commandant en Chef les Armees Franchises de l'Est,
cite a POrdre du Corps d'Armee:
Lieutenant Pilote William F. Loomis, a l'Escadrille Americaine 94
Pilote possedant les plus belles qualites de courage et de sacrifice. Infatigable dans Tac-
complissement de son devoir, a livre un grand nombre de combats au cours desquels il a
toujours montre un grand courage et un grand sang-froid et justifie la confiance placee en
lui comme chef de patrouille.
Petain
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WILLIAM F. LOOMIS
IOOMIS was one of the steadiest pilots among the later group of
Americans who took the Bleriot training. He crashed no machines,
-* and was never known to make an eccentric or sensational sortie.
Going to Escadrille N. 1 53 on November 24, 191 7, he did good work for three
months with the French, and in February, 191 8, transferred to the United
States Army, where he served both with the 94th and 213th Pursuit Squad-
rons. Loomis has had an exceptionally broad experience of the war, in two
armies and on many different sections of the Front, and he has always shown
himself a fine officer and a first-class pilot.
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SERVICE RECORD
Edward J. Loughran, Desoto, Kansas.
Service in French Aviation:
Date oj enlistment: March 20, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: March 27 to October 26, 1917,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: August 31, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 84, October 29,
1917, to February 18, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Killed in combat: Southeast of Minaucourt, Feb-
ruary 18, 191 8.
EDWARD J. LOUGHRAN
T!
^HE latter days of October,
1 9 17, along the Aisne Sector,
were trying ones, even for
veteran pilots in the French Air Serv-
ice. At that time the Germans were
driven from the last of their high
positions, as far as Anizy-le-Chateau,
on the Oise-Aisne Canal, and, farther
east, along the Ailette River. There
was much hazardous work to be done,
trench-strafing at the close of every patrol, machine-gunning enemy reserves
in the woods, on roads and in billets, attacking balloons and aerodromes.
It was at this period that Edward Loughran was sent to the Front, join-
ing Spad 84, a French squadron in Groupe de Combat 13. He was soon given
his 180 H.P. Spad and started patrol work over the Chemin des Dames,
the Fort de Malmaison, the old reservoir — ground strewn with the wreck-
age of many avions, both French and German. Here he was tested out in a
stern school of combat, learned the sound of enemy "105V and, with his
squadron, got on machine-gun terms of intimacy with some of the crack
German combat formations then operating in that region.
He passed through his apprenticeship splendidly, with his nerve unim-
paired and his love of the excitement and the danger of war flying tremen-
dously increased. During the autumn and early winter he was constantly at
the Front, never missing a patrol, learning the work of combat thoroughly,
from "the ceiling" down. He refused to accept a leave offered him in January,
a three weeks' furlough in America, and remained on duty until his death in
combat.
On February 18, 1918, a misty mid-winter morning, he went on early
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EDWARD J. LOUGHRAN
patrol with three members of his squadron. A long reconnaissance of German
positions was made, and it was while returning toward the French lines that
he had his last combat. He was high and rear man on his patrol, and for some
reason lagged far behind the others. Suddenly he was attacked by three
enemy monoplaces and before his comrades could come to his assistance he
LOUGHRAN (in center) AND MEMBERS OF SPAD 84
was shot down. It was evident that he was only wounded, for the report from
the French infantry watching the combat was that he regained control of his
Spad, crossed into French territory, and made a normal descent until within
500 meters of the ground. Then suddenly his machine nosed down and
crashed with terrific force just back of the French third-line defenses south
of Minaucourt and a few hundreds meters north and east of Wargemoulin.
He was the second American pilot in Spad 84 to be killed in combat within
two months. He is buried in the war cemetery at Mont Frenet, not far from
La Ferme de la Noblette, where Groupe de Combat 13 was then stationed.
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SERVICE RECORD
Walter Lovell, Concord, Massachusetts.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 191 5-
16.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 22, 191 6.
Aviation Schools: June 29, 1916, to February
24, 1917, Buc, Avord, Pau,
G.D.E.
Breveted: October I, 19 16 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette, February
26 to October 24, 19 17.
Final Rank: Adjudant.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Captain: January 1, 191 8.
Promoted Major.
Attached to American G.H.Q., Chaumont,
October 24, 1917, to July, 1918.
On duty in U.S.A., July, 1918, to Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star (Ambulance).
Croix de Guerre •, with Palm (Aviation).
CJTATIONS
En Campagne, le 5 octobre y 191 5
Par application du decret du 23 avril, 191 5, sur la Croix de Guerre, le Medecin Divisionnaire
cite a TOrdre du Jour du Service de Sante de la Division :
Monsieur Lovell, Walter, Sous-Chef de Section a la S.S.A.A.
A toujours fait preuve d'un moral remarquable, a toujours ete un exemple de courage pour
les autres conducteurs, et un precieux auxiliaire pour le Chef de sa Section.
(Signe) D. W. Viela
2 mc Armee, G.C. 13. Le 10 septtmbre, 1917
Le General Commandant la 2 me Armee, cite a TOrdre de l'Armee:
Lovell, Walter, Sergent Pilote a rEscadrille N. 124 (G.C. 13)
Citoyen americain engage au service de la France. Excellent pilote de chasse, plein de sang-
froid et de courage. Au cours d'une protection de bombardement a abattu, le 18 aout, un
avion ennem: qui s'est ecrase en flammes.
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WALTER LOVELL
fk FTER six months at the Front as second in command of Section No.
L\ 2, American Field Ambulance, Lovell enlisted in the French Air
JL -A. Service. He was among the first of the 1916 volunteers who received
all of their early training and were breveted on Bleriots at the Buc School.
At that early period, the French system for teaching chasse pilots was ex-
asperatingly slow. Lovell and the other Hives at Buc, spent weeks of their
time reading ancient magazines and loafing at Ciret's, the well-remembered
LOVELL (00 left) AS AN &L&VE-PILOTE AT BUC. SEPTEMBER. 1916
L. N. Barclay seventh from left and Harold Willis on right
restaurant in the village. There was so little flying that all of them lost hope
of ever getting to the Front. After three months of actual work, spread over
the space of ten, Lovell was sent to the Escadrille Lafayette on the 1st of
March, 191 7.
He is a natural leader. The same qualities which placed him in a position
of responsibility in the Ambulance Service, were called into play in Aviation.
There was an even greater need for them at that particular time; for within
the next three months Lieutenant de Laage de Meux, James McConnell,
Edmond Genet, and Ronald Hoskier were all killed. It was inevitable that
Walter should be chosen as a patrol leader. Throughout his ten months at
the Front, he was nearly always at the head of at least one of the daily squad-
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WALTER LOVELL
ron formations. In addition to this, he did a great deal of lone chasse, or
made voluntary sorties with Harold Willis, his old flying partner in the
schools. They made excursions far into German territory, and shot down
enemy planes which could not possibly be confirmed, owing to the distance
from French observation posts. Old Lafayette men will remember many an
evening at the aerodrome, when both pilots and mechanicians waited anx-
iously for the return of these two lone birds. Old Sergeant "'Frisco" would
look at his watch a dozen times during a quarter of an hour — the last
quarter of an hour, when they would have to come home, if at all, because of
the limits of their fuel supply. The rest of us searched the clouds and the bits
•"FRISCO" (on right) AND A PANNE DE MOTEUR OF LOVELL'S
of blue sky in the direction of the lines, for some sign of them, or listened in-
tently for the faint sound of their motors. At last some one would shout joy-
fully, "There they are!" pointing out two minute specks, scarcely visible in
the gathering twilight; and in a much happier frame of mind, we would
watch them planing down from an immense height, until we lost sight of them
in the shadows closer to the earth. It was their practice to stay out until
the last possible moment. Sometimes they had to come home on nourrice,
the little emergency gas-tank. Occasionally, with both tanks empty, they
reached the field only by planing flatly, and landed with "dead sticks."
Walter LovelPs adventures at the Front would "fill a book," if one may
use this hackneyed but meaningful phrase; fill it with the use of nothing but
essential facts. All of his successful combats were on the German side of the
lines, and it is for this reason that he received but one official confirmation of
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WALTER LOVELL
a victory. Even this one would have been unconfirmed — it was miles be-
yond the French lines — had it not been for unquestionable evidence from
other pilots who witnessed the combat. The Escadrille Lafayette accompan-
ied a group of Sopwith bombing planes whose objective was a town well be-
yond the German frontiers. The formation was attacked, over Dun-sur-
Meuse, by a large patrol of Albatross. Lovell shot one of them down in
flames. While he was engaged, Willis was attacked by two others, and had
his machine so badly riddled that he was compelled to land in Germany. It
was a battle royal, one of those hotly contested affairs which thrill the in-
fantrymen watching from below, and cause them to wonder whether, after
all, the life of an airman is such a desirable one.
On January I, 1918, Lovell was commissioned Captain in the United
States Air Service, and, much to his disappointment, was sent to American
G.H.Q. at Chaumont. It was a disappointment felt equally by all of his old
fellow pilots, who knew at first hand of his record at the Front. It seemed a
great pity that he should have to leave the fighting game, for he was excep-
tionally well fitted for it, and had he been allowed to remain with the squad-
ron, would have scored a fine list of victories some of them official, but the
greater part, doubtless, unofficial, owing to his habit of inconspicuous com-
bat. Evidently he was more badly needed elsewhere. He spent several weeks
in visiting French, Belgian, and British squadrons all along the Western
Front, flying from one group to another, thus saving a great deal of traveling
time. The result of this investigation, which was quickly and thoroughly
accomplished, was of great value to the organization and equipment of our
own Air Force. Lovell was afterward promoted Major, and served in various
capacities in France and America until the signing of the Armistice.
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SERVICE RECORD
Gervais Raoul Lufbery, Wallingford, Connec-
ticut.
Previous Service: Foreign Legion (Infantry),
August 24 to August 31, 1914.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: August 31, 1914.
Aviation Schools: May 17 to October 1, 191 5,
Chartres, Amberieu, R.G.A.
Breveted: July 29, 1915 (Maurice Farman).
At the Front: Escadrille V.B. 106, October 7,
1915, to April 10, 1916.
At G.D.E.: (Division Nieuport) for training as
combat pilot, April 10 to May
22, 1916.
Escadrille Lafayette, May 24, 1916,
to January 5, 1918.
Final Rank: Sous-Lieutenant.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Major: January 10, 19 18.
At the Front: Attached to 94th Pursuit Squadron
and 1st Pursuit Group, Janu-
ary 21 to May 19, 1918.
Killed in combat: Near Toul, May 19, 1918.
Decorations:
Legion d*Honneur.
Medaille Militaire.
Croix de Guerre, with ten Palms.
Military Medal (British).
CITATIONS
Grand Quartier-GenEral des Armees, £tat-Major. Le 16 aout, 1916
La Medaille Militaire a ete conferee au Militaire dont le nom suit:
Lufbery, Raoul, Sergent a PEscadrille N. 124
Modele d'adresse et de sang-froid et de courage. S'est distingue par de nombreux bombarde-
ments a longue portee et par les combats quotidiens qu'il livre aux avions ennemis. Le 31
juillet n'a pas hesite a attaquer a courte distance un groupe de quatre avions ennemis. A
abattu Tun d'eux a proximite de nos lignes. A reussi a en abattre un second le 4 aout, 1916.
La presente nomination comporte Tattribution de la Croix de Guerre, avec Palme.
(Signe) Joffre
Au G.Q.G., le 26 septembre, 1916
Le General Commandant la 2 me Armee, cite a POrdre de l'Armee:
L'Adjudant Lufbery, Raoul, Pilote a rEscadrille N. 124
Pilote d'un allant remarquable. Le 4 aout, 1916, a attaque un avion ennemi qui est venu
s'abattre dans ses lignes. Le 8 aout a renouvele le meme exploit. L'appareil ennemi est tombe
en flammes pres de Douaumont.
(Sign*) Nivelle
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GERVAIS RAOUL LUFBERY
G.Q.G., £tat-Major. Le 28 octobre, 1916
Le General Franchet d'Esperey, Commandant le Groupe d'Armees de PEst, cite a POrdre
de PArmee:
Adjudant Lufbery, de PEscadrille N. 124
Pilote courageux et adroit. A abattu son 5°* avion le 12 octobre au cours d'une mission
importante.
(Signe) Franchet d'Esperey
Le 29 Janvier, 191 7
M. Lufbery, Raoul (active), Adjudant Pilote a PEscadrille N. 124
A ete nomme dans POrdre de la Legion d'Honneur au Grade de Chevalier. S'est engage
sous le Drapeau franca is pour la duree de la guerre. A fait preuve comme pilote de chasse
d'une audace remarquable et a abattu jusqu'au 27 decembre, 1916, six avions ennemis.
Deja deux fois cite a POrdre de PArmee et Medaille Militaire.
La presente nomination comporte Pattribution de la Croix de Guerre, avec Palme.
(Signe) Pont
Groupe d'Armees du Nord, £ tat- Major. Le 15 mat, 191 7
Le General Franchet d'Esperey, Commandant le Groupe d'Armees du Nord, cite a POrdre de
PArmee:
Lufbery, Raoul, Adjudant a PEscadrille N. 124 (N° M te 8217)
Pilote a PEscadrille Lafayette; adroit et intrepide; veritable modele pour tous ses cama-
rades. Le 8 avril a oblige un avion ennemi a atterrir. A abattu le 13 avril, 191 7, son huitieme
appareil ennemi, et le 24 avril son neuvieme.
(Signe) Franchet d'Esperey
Le 19 mat, 191 7
Par Ordre General N° 10 "D.E." du 8 mai, 1917, du G.Q.G., S.M. le Roi d'Angleterre
a confere la Medaille Militaire (M.M.) aux pilotes dont les noms suivent, qui se sont
sign ales par leur bravoure au cours de la campagne: . . .
Adjudant Lufbery, Raoul, de PEscadrille N. 124
VI e Ariiee, £tat-Major. Au Q.G.A., le is juin, 191 7
Lufbery, Raoul, Adjudant Pilote a PEscadrille N. 124 (Aeronautique)
Pilote de chasse merveilleux. Est, pour son Escadrille, un exemple vivant d'audace, de
sang-froid, et de devouement.
A abattu le 12 juin, 191 7, son io e avion ennemi.
(Signe) Maistre
Le General Commandant la 2™ Armee cite a POrdre de PArmee:
Le Sous-Lieutenant Lufbery, Raoul, des Troupes Aeronautiques, Pilote a PEscadrille N. 124
Pilote de chasse qui a livre en deux semaines 16 combats, au cours desquels il a touche
et fait tomber desempares 6 avions ennemis et en a abattu un autre le 4 septembre, 1917
(il™* victoire). A eu son appareil 5 fois atteint gravement dans ce combat.
G.Q.G., £tat-Major. Le 29 octobre, 1917
M. Lufbery, Raoul, Aviation, Sous-Lieutenant, Pilote a PEscadrille N. 124
Merveilleux pilote de chasse. Le 22 septembre, 191 7, a attaque deux avions ennemis, en a
abattu un (i2 me avion), et contraint Pautre a atterrir desempare dans ses lignes. Le 16
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GERVAIS RAOUL LUFBERY
octobre a abattu un biplace en flammes en arriere des lignes ennemies. A recu au cours du
combat deux balles dans son moteur (13°" avion).
(Sign*) Maistre
VI e Armee, £tat-Major. Le 9 novembre, 191 7
M. Lufbery, Raoul, Sous-Lieutenant (Aviation), Pilote a rEscadrille N. 124
Pilote remarquable. Le plus bel exemple de bravoure, d'energie, et d'audace. Le 24 octobre,
191 7, alors que Tennemi, battu la veille, essayait de reagir, a fourni un splendide effort, livrant
au cours de trois vols successifs, sept combats rapproches dans lesquels il a battu son qua-
torzieme adversaire et fait tomber desempares cinq autres avions allemands.
(Signe) Maistre
GERVAIS RAOUL LUFBERY
FROM boyhood Raoul Lufbery's life was one of continual adventure.
He was born in France of French parents, on March 14, 1885. A year
later his mother died, and Raoul was placed by his father in the care
of a family in the Auvergne Mountains. In 1890 his father remarried and
in 1 891 emigrated to the United States. Being uncertain of conditions in
America, he left his three boys in the care of their grandmother in France.
His second wife died in 1901, leaving him with five small children, the young-
est but nine months old. His father being hard-pressed in the care of his
family, Raoul, who was still in France, went to work in a chocolate factory
at Blois, and during the next three years sent him most of his earnings. This
enabled him to establish himself comfortably in America. Then, in 1904,
eager for change, with a boy's delight in travel, Raoul set out to see the
world.
Leaving Clermont-Ferrand, where he had been employed in a factory, he
went to Algiers, to Tunis, and on to Egypt. He then went to Constantinople,
where for several weeks he was employed as a waiter in a restaurant. His
plan in all his romantic wanderings was to select some city, no matter how
far distant if it promised to be interesting, keeping it in mind as an ultimate
objective while he worked toward it in leisurely stages. Arriving there he
would accept any sort of employment which came to hand, and when he had
satisfied his curiosity, move on to new lands. Upon leaving Turkey he went
through the Balkan States to Germany, and at Hamburg signed a three
months' contract with the Waerman Line, a steamship company whose
boats plied between that port and German South Africa. After three years of
globe-trotting he went to Wallingford in 1906 for a visit with his father.
But his father, too, was something of a traveler. He was a dealer in stamps
and traveled widely in search of specimens which his collection lacked.
Knowing little of his son's movements, he sailed for Europe on the day of
Raoul's arrival at New York. He had not seen him since he was a lad, and as
the event proved, father and son were never to meet again.
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GERVAIS RAOUL LUFBERY
Raoul remained at home for nearly two years. Then as his father had not
yet returned, he again set out on his travels. He went to Cuba and from
there to New Orleans, where he worked in a bakery, and on to San Fran-
cisco, where he was a waiter in a hotel. He then enlisted in the United States
Army and was sent to the Philippines, where he remained for more than two
years. When his period of enlistment had expired, he went on to Japan and
from there to China. He wandered through China for months, always insa-
tiably curious, always eager for new adventure. For some time he settled
down in a position in the Chinese Customs Service. Then Wanderlust carried
him to India, where he was employed as a ticket agent at Bombay.
In 1 91 2, while at Calcutta, he made the acquaintance of Marc Pourpe,
a French aviator who had just arrived in India with a fellow airman for the
purpose of making a series of exhibition flights in Bleriot monoplanes. Luf-
bery had been greatly interested in aviation from the time of the Wright
brothers' experiments with gliders. The arrival of the Frenchmen gave him
the opportunity for which he had long been waiting. He followed the crowd
of curious natives to the field outside Calcutta where the flights were to be
made. There he awaited developments, and seeing Pourpe in difficulties with
a gang of coolie laborers who were erecting his tent hangar, offered to super-
intend the job. Pourpe gladly accepted the offer, and the following day,
thanks to Lufbery's assistance, was ready to begin his flights.
This incident marked the beginning of Lufbery's long and intimate associ-
ation with Pourpe, and of his own career as an airman which was to continue
until his death in combat six years later. Pourpe's flying partner was killed
in an accident while they were in India and his own mecanicien became ill
and returned to France. Lufbery then became a mecanicien under Pourpe's
instruction and quickly mastered his new calling. Both men were young and
adventure-loving and spent more than a year of fascinating travel among
the old civilizations of the East. In some places they were looked upon as
gods, in others as imposters. Once, in China, the natives, who felt that their
reputation as master kite-builders was at stake, after making a careful ex-
amination of Pourpe's Bleriot, built an exact model of it, of bamboo and gilt
paper. It flew beautifully, but was lacking in one essential feature. It had no
motor. It would not sing. So they attached a box of bees which made a splen-
did buzzing sound near at hand. But in the air, much to the disappointment
of the Chinamen, they could not compete with the musical box on the man-
kite of the foreign devils.
Then came Pourpe's famous flight in Egypt, from Cairo to Khartoum and
return. Lufbery followed or preceded him on every stage of the journey,
traveling by Nile steamers and cargo boats, on camels or donkeys, by train,
and sometimes on foot. In the summer of 1914 they returned to France for a
new machine, a Morane Parasol, expecting to return to the Orient for an-
other long tour. War was declared and Pourpe enlisted at once in the Air
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GERVAIS RAOUL LUFBERY
Service. Lufbery enlisted in the Foreign Legion as an infantryman, trans-
ferred a few days later to the Aviation Service, and went with Pourpe to the
Front as his mechanic. Pourpe was killed three months later, on December
2, 1914. In writing of the friendship of the two men, Jacques Mortane, editor
of the Paris La Guerre Aerienne y said :
" I wish that I could give a living picture of these heroes of romance, for I
do not think that there exist upon earth two men whose lives have been
more extraordinary, more fertile in incident. I loved Marc Pourpe as a
brother and I had for Lufbery the most profound affection. Their friendship
for each other was a veritable cult, and yet neither ever confided to the other
his adventures of former days. In so far as their comradeship was concerned,
it began on the day when they first met. Neither knew nor cared what had
happened before that time. Lufbery showed an astonishing knowledge of
other countries which was very useful to Pourpe in planning his aerial jour-
neys. I remember evenings in Paris when they were studying their maps in
preparation for a distant voyage. 'In June,' Lufbery would say, 'there will
be heavy rains in this region/ or, 'when you are flying in that country you
will be hindered by the prevailing winds.' His conversation was always
highly instructive and picturesque."
After Pourpe's death Lufbery was sent to the aviation school at Chartres,
where he was breveted on the Maurice Farman and received a later training
on the Voisin. His first service at the Front as a pilot was in the Voisin Bom-
bardment Squadron 106. In the spring of 1916 he went to the depot at Le
Plessis-Belleville for training as a pilote de chasse. He had a good deal of
difficulty in learning to fly the Nieuport, and odd though it seems, in the
light of his later career, was at first reported by his moniteurs as inapt for
combat training and more fitted to be a pilote de bombardement. Lufbery per-
severed, overcame his early clumsiness, finished his Nieuport training, and
was sent to the Escadrille Lafayette on May 24, 1916.
On July 30 he shot down his first enemy avion in a battle to the east of
£tain, in the Verdun Sector. The following day he gained his second victory,
and on August 4 a third, the enemy machine falling at Abancourt, near Ver-
dun. On August 8 he shot down an Aviatik, which fell in flames near the Fort
de Douaumont; and during the historic bombardment of the Mauser works,
on the 12th of October, 1916, he destroyed a three-passenger Aviatik, his
fifth official victory. It was in returning from this expedition that Norman
Prince was mortally injured. The Lafayette Squadron then went to Cachy
on the Somme, and on November 9 and 10, Lufbery destroyed two addi-
tional enemy planes, although they were too far back of the enemy lines to
be officially credited to him. On December 27, 1916, he had a thrilling single-
handed battle with an Aviatik which he finally shot down in the French
lines. He himself narrowly escaped death on this occasion, four bullets of his
adversary having passed through his Nieuport very close to his body. This
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GERVAIS RAOUL LUFBERY
was his sixth victory, and henceforth, with every new success his name
was mentioned in the official communiques, in accordance with the French
practice.
The story of his further victories may be read in part in the list of his
army citations. He received official confirmation for seventeen of them, al-
though, at a conservative estimate, this is no more than half the number of
planes which he actually destroyed. He had no method of attack, unless ab-
solute fearlessness and a remarkable finesse in handling his machine may
LUFBERY (on left) RECEIVING THE BRITISH MILITARY MEDAL
be called a method. He flew alone a great deal, and waited patiently for his
opportunity. He not only waited for it, but he worked for it as well. When he
accepted or forced combat, he was always in the most favorable position for
attack.
His Spad was really a part of himself, a thing which may be said of but few
airmen. He actually flew as a bird flies, without any thought of how it was
done. Those of us who were associated with him in the Escadrille Lafayette
used to gather at the hangars when not on duty to wait for his return from
the lines. We knew where to look for him, always very high, for he kept his
altitude on the homeward journey, in the hope of encountering an enemy
photographic or reconnaissance machine returning from a mission over
French territory. When over the aerodrome he would throttle down and
make his descent in beautiful renversements without an abrupt movement,
so delicately done that there could not be the slightest strain on his machine.
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GERVAIS RAOUL LUFBERY
Sometimes when in a holiday mood he would give us an exhibition of acro-
bacy which it was a joy to watch; for he was better than the best of us at
stunting.
Finest of all Lufbery's qualities was his simplicity. He knew, of course,
that he had become a popular hero. The papers both in France and America
were full of his exploits. Children were named after him, scores of silly girls
wrote letters to him. Seldom was there a prise (Tarmes at the aerodrome when
he was not one of the pilots to be decorated. Celebrated Frenchmen were
glad to honor him. How we unheroic and unknown airmen envied him the
greetings he had from such men as Guynemer, Fonck, Nungesser, and others
who had achieved greatly: "Tiens, LuJ! Comment (a va y mon vieux /" He
never boasted or took credit to himself. He counted his success as three
fourths luck, and was always surprised that so much of it should come his
way. When foolish people tried to
flatter him, he used to say to us after
they had gone: "Well, you know,
it's funny what things people will say
to a man's face. I wonder if they
think we like it?" He had to take a
lot of it whether he liked it or not;
but it had no unfortunate effect upon
him. He was always the same old
"Luf."
One of his favorite off-duty recrea-
tions was hunting for mushrooms.
On rainy days when there was no
flying, he would go off to the woods
with a basket on a long-distance
reconnaissance des champignons, and
often returned with a plentiful sup-
ply, enough for the entire squadron.
At other times he would spend a
whole day romping with Whiskey
and Soda, the lion mascots. They
were both fond of him, particularly
Whiskey, who followed him around
the aerodrome like a pet dog. To see
lufbery, whiskey, and soda his way with the lions, and how read-
ily they acknowledged a master in
him, was to understand more clearly the nature of the qualities which had
brought him success as a combat pilot.
In January, 191 8, he received his commission as Major in the United
States Air Service. He was a problem to the American authorities, and at
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GERVAIS RAOUL LUFBERY
first they showed poor judgment in the use which they made of his services.
Not knowing what to do with him, they sent him to the American A.I.C. at
Issoudun, where they gave him a roll-top desk, a writing-pad and pencil, and
absolutely nothing to do. There he sat day after day, whittling his pencil, or
LUFBERY AND WHISKEY
making little curlicues on his writing-pad. Any average judge of character
could have known after a five-minutes talk with Lufbery that he would
never make a paper-work squadron commander. He knew nothing, and
wanted to know nothing, about the routine of making reports and of keeping
lists and records and indents. His place was at the Front, leading his patrol
into combat. One of the men who knew him at Issoudun said that he was
pathetically helpless in that den of the more or less typical kind of American
officer. In his loneliness he used to confide in his orderly, and ask his advice
as to the best means for getting out to the Front!
Relief came when he was sent with the 94th and 95th Pursuit Squadrons
to Villeneuve in the Champagne Sector. But no fighting could be done be-
cause, although some of the pilots had machines, they had no guns. During
the month of waiting for the rest of their equipment, Lufbery taught the
men their combat tactics and flew with them to the lines, where they looked
longingly across to patrols of enemy planes which they could not attack.
Coming back from one of these tantalizing patrols, Lufbery would land at
the aerodrome of the Lafayette Squadron, then at La Ferme de la Noblette,
on the Chalons-Suippes road. "Well," he would say gloomily, "it's nearly a
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GERVAIS RAOUL LUFBERY
year since the United States declared war, and what do you suppose the 94th
is doing? Waiting for machine guns! Six hundred million dollars appropri-
ated for the United States Air Service, and we're loafing around back of the
lines because we can't get guns enough to equip a dozen planes!"
The guns came at last, and on April 10, 1918, the 94th started patrol duty
on the Toul Sector. There was but little activity in that region then, and the
first two months of service was chiefly a hunt for enemy planes which rarely
appeared. Lufbery led patrols daily and followed his old practice of lone
chasse, but without much success. Few Germans were abroad, and when
found refused to give battle. The brilliant exception was one plane which
came far into the French lines on photographic missions. On May 19 the
booming of the French anti-aircraft batteries announced the return of these
daring airmen. Lufbery went in pursuit and, as the event proved, to his
death. The following account of his last battle is taken from Edward Ricken-
backer's story of the action :
"It was about ten o'clock when the anti-aircraft guns on the top of Mont
Mihiel began shooting at a very high altitude. An alerte came to us immedi-
ately that a German photographic plane was coming our way and was at
that moment almost directly over our field. The batteries ceased firing and
MARON (MERTHE-ET-MOSELLE)
Lufbery fell in the garden behind the first house on the right. The tablet bears the inscription: "Raoul Ltfbery. Major
Air Service, United States Army. Killed in Aerial Combat, May 19, 1918. This tablet is placed here in his memory
by his comrades of the United States Air Service."
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GERVAIS RAOUL LUFBERY
THE WRECK OF MAJOR LUFBERYS MACHINE. MAY 19, 1918
seemed to have scored a hit, for the German machine began a long vrille y
spinning faster and faster as it neared the ground. Just as the onlookers were
sure that it was about to crash, it straightened out and turned back toward
the German lines. Lufbery's own machine was out of commission, but an-
other Nieuport was standing on the field apparently ready for use. The
mechanicians admitted that it was ready, and without another word Luf-
bery jumped into the seat and immediately took off. About five minutes after
leaving the ground he had reached 2000 feet and was within range of the Ger-
man six miles away. The first attack was witnessed by all our watchers. Luf-
bery fired several short bursts, then swerved away and appeared to busy
himself with his gun which seemed to have jammed. Another circle over
their heads and he had cleared the jam. Again he attacked from the rear
when suddenly his machine was seen to burst into flames. He passed the Ger-
man and for three or four seconds proceeded on a straight course. Then he
jumped. His body fell in the garden of a peasant woman's house in a little
town just north of Nancy. There was a small stream about one hundred
yards distant and it was thought that Lufbery, seeing a slight chance, had
jumped in the hope of falling into the stream. We arrived at the scene less
than thirty minutes after he had fallen. Already loving hands had removed
his body to the town hall, and there we found it, the charred figure entirely
covered with flowers from near-by gardens."
The funeral took place on the following day. General Gerard, Commander
of the Sixth French Army, came with his entire staff, and General Edwards,
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GERVAIS RAOUL LUFBERY
his old commanding officer in the Philippines, and General Liggett and Colo-
nel William Mitchell, of the United States Air Service, together with hun-
dreds of officers, French and American, from all branches of army service on
the sector. Lieutenant Kenneth P. Culbert wrote of the funeral to Professor
C. T. Copeland of Harvard :
"As we marched to the grave, the sun was just sinking behind the moun-
tain that rises so abruptly in front of Toul; the sky was a faultless blue, and
the air heavy with the scent of blossoms. An American and a French general
led the procession, followed by a band which played the funeral march and
* Nearer my God to Thee' so beautifully that I for one could hardly keep my
eyes dry. Then followed the officers of his Squadron and of my own — and
after us, a group of Frenchmen famous in the stories of this war, American
officers of high rank, and two American companies of infantry separated by
a French one. We passed before crowds of American nurses in their clean
white uniforms and a throng of patients and French civilians. He was given
a full military burial, with the salutes of the firing squad and the repetition
of taps, one answering the other from the west. General Edwards made a
brief address, one of the finest talks I have ever heard, while French and
American planes circled the field throughout the ceremony. In all my life I
have never heard * taps' blown so beautifully as on that afternoon. Even
some of the officers joined the women there in quietly dabbing at their eyes
with white handkerchiefs. Truly France and America had assembled to pay
a last tribute to one of their bravest soldiers. My only prayer is that some-
how, by some means, I may do as much as he for my country before I too go
west — if in that direction I am to travel."
Lieutenant Culbert was killed in combat the day after his letter was writ-
ten. To him Lufbery had been a shining example as he was to thousands of
young airmen, French and American; and though the war is over and those
heroic days gone for all time, perhaps, they keep his memory bright and fol-
low him still.
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SERVICE RECORD
George A. McCall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1916.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: September 1, 191 6.
Aviation Schools: September 14, 1916, to May
28, 191 7, Buc, Avord, Pau,
G.D.E.
Breveted: March 16, 1917 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 23, May 30 to
September 9, 191 7.
Escadrille Spad 86, September 15
to October 22, 1917.
Escadrille Spad 48, November 6,
1917, to April 23, 1918.
Escadrille Sal. 30, May 29 to
September 30, 1918.
Escadrille Spad 103, October 24,
1918, to Armistice.
Final Rank: Sergent.
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GEORGE A. McCALL
GEORGE McCALL is one of those men who goes his own quiet way
at his own leisurely gait. Americans of the essentially gregarious
type never understood him, and so they left him to his solitude,
much to his satisfaction. Others whose tastes coincided somewhat with his
own, admired him for his self-sufficiency — using this term in its original and
fine meaning. He was not dependent upon companionship. He had resources
within himself which seemed to make it unessential. They admired him, too,
for his intense hatred of meddling.
Before joining French Aviation, he was a member of the American Field
Ambulance. Once, during his services on the Verdun Sector, an American
official connected with the Ambulance found it necessary to make a rather
dangerous journey under shell-fire, in the front-line area. He asked for a
steady, cool-headed driver, and Mac was chosen by his Section Commander.
He was an ideal man for such a task, for he is not cursed with a vivid imagi-
nation. He could no more anticipate the sensation of being killed than he
could shine in conversation at a pink tea.
He was the only Bleriot pilot of his time who made his flights precisely as
they should be made, and while on the ground spent much of his leisure in
figuring out how various maneuvers could best be done. Most of us trusted
to instinct or to luck for guidance. Mac never did, with the result that he
was the only one of his contemporaries at Buc who carried out to the letter
the instructions of the moniteurs, and did his spirals and serpentines success-
fully at the first trial.
At the Front he did his work faithfully and well, serving continuously in
French squadrons from May 8, 1917, until the close of the war.
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SERVICE RECORD
James R. McConnell, Carthage, North Carolina.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 191 5.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: October 1, 1915.
Amotion Schools: October 1, 1915, to April 16,
1916, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: February 6, 1916 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette, April 20,
1916, to March 19, 1917.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Killed in combat: Near Jussy (Aisne), March 19,
1917.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star (Ambulance).
Croix de Guerre, with Palm (Aviation).
CITATIONS
Le 5 octobre, 1915
Citation a V Ordre du Service de Sante:
McConnell, James, de la S.A.A. N° 2
Conducteur engage de la premiere heure,
anime d'un excellent esprit, a toujours fait
preuve d'un courage et d'une hardiesse dignes
des plus grands eloges.
Citation d YOrdre de VArmee:
McConnell, James Rogers, Sergent Pilote a l'Escadrille N. 124
Citoyen americain engage au service de la France. Pilote modeste autant que courageux,
disait souvent a ses camarades: " Tant mieux si je dois etre tue, puisque c'est pour la France."
A trouve une mort glorieuse le 19 mars, 191 7, au cours d'un combat contre des avions ennemis.
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JAMES R. McCONNELL
JAMES McCONNELL'S record in the war, and the changes wrought in
him by his experiences overseas, epitomize the changing point of view
of the great majority of Americans who volunteered to do something
for France before our declaration of war. No other member of the old
Escadrille Lafayette was so typically American. Some, like Thaw and Luf-
bery, were "citizens of the world at large"; others, like Rockwell and Victor
Chapman, seemed born to an atmosphere of high romance; but McConnell
was in the truest sense representative of his country and generation — clever,
observant, perfectly balanced, loving sport and adventure, and exceedingly
human. He sailed for France in January, 1915, actuated primarily by the
spirit of adventure, for he told his friends that the war would not last forever
and that he intended to see something of it before it was too late. In the back
of his mind was a sense that France was fighting in a just cause, and he said :
"I'll be of some use, too, not just a sightseer looking on; that would n't be
fair."
His friend, Henry M. Suckley, sailed with him on the same steamer, and
they joined the American Ambulance Field Service together. During the
spring and summer of 1915, McConnell served with Section 2, in the heavy
fighting about Pont-a-Mousson and the Bois-le-Pretre. It is said that no
Ambulance men, with the possible exception of those at Verdun, went
through greater difficulties and dangers than were surmounted by the mem-
bers of Section 2, and McConnell's letters, some of which were published in
the Outlook of September, 191 5, with a word of introduction by Colonel
Roosevelt, were so vivid, humorous, and full of interest that they caused a
wide stimulation in contributions and enlistments to the Ambulance. As the
summer passed, a change came over McConnell : the daily task of evacuating
wounded brought a realization of what this war meant, the principles at
stake, and the spirit in which even the humblest fantassin fought for the soil
of France and the freedom of the race. He saw middle-aged men, serious,
poor, the fathers of families, carried out uncomplaining to the rear, mangled
or crippled for life. This was a subject for reflection. He was young and with-
out dependents — and yet these men stood in the first-line trenches at grips
with the enemy, while he worked in the rear, in a certain amount of danger,
it was true, but still, in his own rapidly crystallizing opinion, an embusque.
Many an American has gone through the same stage of realization and self-
examination, and ended, like McConnell, by deciding to play the more active
and satisfactory part of a combatant.
On October 1, 191 5, McConnell enlisted in the Lafayette Flying Corps,
exchanging the khaki of the Ambulance for the horizon blue of France. On
February 6, 1916, just one year after his arrival in France, he passed the
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JAMES R. McCONNELL
military brevet, and in April he went to the Front as one of the original mem-
bers of the Escadrille Lafayette. His sunny humanity, close and humorous
powers of observation, and knack of vivid description lent an unusual charm
to his writings, and his book " Flying for France," which appeared before our
declaration of war, did genuine patriotic service in forming public opinion
during the period preliminary to hostilities.
McConnelFs career as a pilot at the Front is summed up in the words of his
citation to the Order of the Army, "A pilot as modest as he was brave."
Flying with Rockwell and Lufbery, men whose element was the air, he be-
came known as a steady and daring companion over the lines, who could be
relied upon to do his part in any emergency. In August, 1916, when the
Squadron was at Bar-le-Duc, he was on patrol with Rockwell and Prince,
over the heavy fighting in the region of Fleury and Thiaumont. Their mis-
sion was to prevent the enemy observation machines from doing their work,
and they stayed above the lines until darkness began to fall and it was too
late for further German activity. The stars were shining when they headed for
their field. Prince and Rockwell landed without mishap, but on the way home
McConnell had a panne de moteur. "I made for a field," he wrote; but "in
the darkness I could n't judge my distance well and went too far. At the edge
of the field there were trees, and beyond, a deep cut where a road ran. I was
skimming the ground at a hundred miles an hour and heading for the trees.
I saw soldiers running to be in at the finish and thought to myself that Jim's
hash was cooked, but I went between two trees and ended head-on against
the opposite bank of the road. My motor took the shock and my belt held;
as my tail went up it was cut in two by some very low telephone wires. I was
n't even bruised." It was characteristic that in his letter home he made no
mention of being injured. As a matter of fact, his back was severely wrenched
in the crash, and grew steadily worse, although he continued to fly for several
days. Toward the end of the month he and Kiffin Rockwell went to Paris on
seven days' leave, and while there the pain grew so intense that night after
night he was forced to sit up, unable to sleep. In the mornings Paul and
Kiffin helped him to dress, and he hobbled forth, with the aid of a cane, to
the old haunts where comrades were to be found. When the leave was up, he
insisted on returning to the Squadron, but by that time he was unable to
walk at all, and the Captain ordered him off to a hospital. A painful rheuma-
tism settled in the sprained back, and though he returned to the Front in
November, it was soon evident that he was in no condition to fly, so he was
shipped back to hospital. There he remained until the first week in March,
1 91 7, when news came that the French were about to make an important
advance. This was too much for McConnell — already bored and longing to
be in the fighting. With a good deal of difficulty he persuaded the Medecin
Major to let him go, and returned to the Squadron on March 12.
Seven days later he was killed. On the morning of the 19th, he was flying
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JAMES R. McCONNELL
with Genet over the battle-fields of the Somme. Well inside the enemy lines
they encountered a pair of German two-seaters. Genet told of what followed
in a letter to his mother: "I mounted to attack the nearest and left Mac to
take care of the second. . . . There were plenty of clouds and mist, and after
I had finished my scrap, in which I
got one of my main upper wing sup-
ports cut in half, a guiding-rod cut in
half, several bullets through my up-
per wing, and half an explosive bullet
... in my left cheek, which stunned
me for a moment, I went down to
look for Mac and help him if he was
hard-pressed. Looked all around for
fifteen minutes . . . but could see
neither him nor the German machine
which must have attacked him. My
upper wing was in great danger of
breaking off, my wound was bleeding
and pained quite a bit, so I finally
headed back for camp, hoping Mac
had missed me and gone back. . . .
When I got to our field I looked in
vain for Mac's machine . . . my
worst fears were confirmed . . . we
have had absolutely no news of him
... it is terrible."
A few days later the advancing
MCCONNELL'S GRAVE NEAR HAM £?»<* tr °°P* ^ d ^e Wreck of a
Nieuport with McConnelrs body be-
side it, so his friends had the sad satisfaction of knowing that he was buried
by friendly hands. On the 2d of April, at the American Church on the avenue
de l'Alma, a very beautiful memorial service was held for McConnell and
for his old friend Suckley, who was killed — by one of the strange freaks of
war — on the day following McConnell's death. Two years before, they had
arrived at Bordeaux on the same steamer, and they gave their lives within
twenty-four hours of one another — on the Somme, and in distant Mace-
donia. McConnell's thirtieth birthday was on March 14. In the diary he
had kept with scrupulous care ever since his arrival in France, the last sen-
tence written in his twenty-ninth year was, "This war may kill me, but I
have it to thank for much."
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SERVICE RECORD
Herschel J. McKee, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: April 12, 19 17.
Aviation Schools: April 15 to October 12, 191 7,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: August 30, 19 17 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille N. 314, October 15,
1917, to February 8, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Shot down by anti-aircraft fire :
Near Chateau-Salins, February 8, 1918.
Prisoner in Germany: Until the Armistice.
HERSCHEL J. McKEE
HERSCHEL McKEE will always be known, on account of a news-
paper clipping, which he probably curses in secret, as "Your Flying
Son." It was hard luck that the thing was posted on the Bulletin
Board at Avord, but names stick. On October 15, 1917, he went to the Esca-
drille N. 314. This squadron was engaged in the protection of Nancy, and its
machines, of a rather antiquated type, were not supposed to cross the lines.
McKee, in his eagerness for combat did not always obey rules, and on the
8th of February, 191 8, was shot down by German anti-aircraft guns near
Chateau-Salins, far inside the enemy lines. By good luck he landed unhurt,
but was caught by the Germans and made prisoner. In September he made
his escape from a prison camp, but was recaptured three days later, and did
not succeed in leaving Germany until after the Armistice.
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SERVICE RECORD
William J. McKerness, Wallingford, Connecti-
cut.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 13, 191 7.
Aviation Sckoob: June 20, 191 7, to May 10,
191 8, Avord, Cazeaux.
At the Front: Escadrille C. 46 (as observer and
machine-gunner), May 12 to
August 15, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Wounded in combat: July 15, 1918.
Killed in combat: August 15, 1918, northeast of
Ribecourt.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
CITATION
Division Aerienne, £tat-Major.
Le 31 juillet, 191 8
Le General Commandant la Division Aerienne
cite a TOrdre de la Division:
McKerness, William, Soldat, Legion
Etrangere, Mitrailleur en Avion
Mitrailleur plein de courage, d'adresse, et
de sang-froid. Attaque, le 15 juillet, par une
patrouille de 15 monoplaces, a vaillamment engage la lutte, permettant ainsi aux avions
qu'il protegeait de poursuivre leur mission. A ete blesse au cours de ce combat, a eu son ap-
pareil crible de balles, un reservoir en feu et son mitrailleur arriere grievement blesse.
Le General Commandant la Division Aerienne
(Signe) M. Duval
WILLIAM J. McKERNESS
WILLIAM McKERNESS was a plucky and determined airman —
clean grit all the way through. He had great difficulty in learning
to fly and the instructors warned him time after time that if he
continued he would infallibly be killed. Whether he believed them or not, he
kept on, and none of us will ever forget the cheerful manner in which he used
to drag himself out of a nightmare pile of wreckage and ask for just one more
chance. As to getting killed, he left his comrades, who were exceedingly fond
of him, to do the worrying. It became evident to him at last that Nature had
not intended him for a pilot, but instead of accepting his release, which the
French offered, McKerness announced that he had come to France to fight
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WILLIAM J. McKERNESS
in the air, and if he could not be a pilot, he would like to be a machine-gunner.
Appreciating the spirit that prompted it, the authorities granted his request,
and at the Gunnery School he soon showed his gift for the new work.
On May 12, 191 8, McKerness arrived at the Front, assigned to the Esca-
drille C. 46, and had the pleasure of being ordered to fly with his friend Sit-
terly, as forward gunner on an R. 11 Caudron. In this three-seater chasse
work, with Sitterly and Lacassagne, the French rear gunner, McKerness
played a splendid part in the bitter fighting along the Marne. His letters,
refreshingly free from the taint of "lead swinging," give us glimpses of des-
perate combat and of a rarely cool and observant combatant: "There were
several Boches piquing on us — fifteen — and most of them attacked our
machine. . . . One of the first bullets went through the stock of my Win-
chester and pieces of it went through my combination. Going through the
Winchester first is the only thing that saved my leg. Lacassagne was
wounded badly in the beginning of the combat, but continued to fire. Bul-
lets were going all through our machine and the next thing I knew, I got a
piece of bullet in my back. The [aileron] wires were cut by bullets, and when
Lacassagne changed his magazines he let one fall on the wires that control
the rudder, causing a jam there . . . after this there was no way of turning
the machine . . . and one of the motors caught on fire/'
The missions of protection, far into the enemy lines, on which McKerness
was dispatched, made flying synonymous with fighting, for even the most
conservative of German pilots would fight when well chez lui. The triplace
fighting, too, was of a peculiarly desperate character, as the mission of the
big Caudron was to stand off the enemy scouts while the Breguets finished
their work or made good their escape.
At length, on August 15, McKerness left the aerodrome, with a French
pilot, on his last patrol. Northeast of Ribecourt they were attacked by eight
Fokkers, and it is believed that the pilot was killed at the first burst, for the
Caudron fell out of control in our lines, between Ribecourt and Saint-Leger.
The pilot and both gunners were found dead in their seats.
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SERVICE RECORD
James H. McMillen, New York City.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 25, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 29, 19 17, to February 15,
1918, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: December 3, 191 7 (Caudron).
Convoyeur: February 15 to March 12, 191 8.
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 38, March 12 to
July 10, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: July 11, 1918.
At the Front: Attached to French Squadron
Spad 38, July 11 to September
27, 1918.
J:
JAMES H. McMILLEN
"AMES McMILLEN was among
the last men to train on Ble-
riot at Avord. One of the aristo-
cratic few who possessed a bicycle,
he shared a room with Eldredge at
Farges, and pedaled back and forth
to the piste. He was breveted on December 3, 1917, and arrived at the
G.D.E. at a most inauspicious period, when the Americans, many of whom
languished in the guard-house, were looked on with a jaundiced eye. Per-
missions to Paris were unthinkable — unsanctioned visits to the boulevards
were fraught with the dangers of a "special mission" — and a cruelly rigor-
ous discipline kept the pilots standing all day in the snow, awaiting the
dubious chance of a hop. McMillen's assignment, on March 12, 191 8, to
the Spad 38 (one of the best squadrons of the French army) made up in part
for the trials he had endured at Plessis. The Spad 38 was commanded by
Madon, and numbered among its pilots Guy, Shaffer, and Putnam, so
McMillen found himself in congenial company. On July 1 1 he transferred
to the United States Air Service, with the rank of First Lieutenant, and
had the pleasure of being sent back to Madon's escadrille, where he gave a
good account of himself through the heavy fighting of the summer and fall.
He has many anecdotes of Madon, with whom he was on the friendliest of
terms, and his experiences of flying with the ace will furnish a rich source
of memories for days of peace.
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SERVICE RECORD
Douglas MacMonagle, San Francisco, Cali-
fornia.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1916.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: October 3, 1916.
Aviation Schools: October 17, 191 6, to June 14,
1917, Buc, Avord, G.D.E.
Breveted: April 10, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette, June 16 to
September 24, 191 7.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Killed in combat: September 24, 191 7, near Tri-
au court (Meuse).
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star (American Ambu-
lance).
Croix de Guerre, with Palm (Aviation).
CITATIONS
Au G.Q., le 2 aout, 1916
L'automobiliste volontaire Douglas MacMonagle, de la S.S.A. Americaine No. 8
Un obus etant tombe en plein poste de secours, a conserve toute sa calme et avec le plus
grand devouement, a contribue, sous un bombardement, au chargement de trois blesses
dont Pevacuation etait urgent.
Le General Rouguerot
Commandant de la l6 e Division flnfanterie
G.Q.G., £tat-Major. Le 29 octobre, 191 7
Extrait de POrdre General N° 120, portant citation a POrdre de PArmee:
MacMonagle, Douglas, Sergent (i er Regiment Stranger), Pilote a PEscadrille N. 124
Jeune pilote americain, plein d'audace et de courage. Le 24 septembre s'est porte a la
rencontre de huit avions ennemis qui tentaient de survoler nos lignes, a attaque Tun d'eux
resolument, a ete tue au cours du combat.
(Signe) Maistre
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DOUGLAS MacMONAGLE
A SHORT while after the death, in combat, of Douglas MacMonagle,
the following account was written of him by one of his comrades:
"You have doubtless heard, before this, that Mac has gone. It is
a terrible loss for me, for all of us. He was one of the truest friends and com-
rades a man could have. On the morning it happened, L. L. and I flew over
to Senard to get some clothing I had left at the Lafayette Squadron, landing
at the field just after their patrol had come in from the lines. It was a glorious
autumn morning and we were in very gay spirits. But the moment my wheels
touched ground, while I was rolling over to the hangars, I knew that some-
thing had happened. It was a fearful sort of intuition. Didier Masson walked
up to my machine as I was climbing out and said, 'Mac was killed this
morning/
"One of the mechanicians was crying and the others standing in groups,
doing nothing. I have never seen such a picture of dumb grief. Mac was loved
by every one of them. He may have had enemies, nearly every one has; but
if so, they were mighty few, and the kind any real man would rather call
enemies. than friends. Mac was a man's man, if there ever was one.
"We walked up the hill to the barracks and found all the boys there. The
attempts they made at a welcome were pathetic to say the least. Poor old
Luf was inconsolable, Bill (Thaw) was pretending to work over Squadron
business as though nothing had happened. Carl Dolan had just gone with a
tractor to get Mac's body which had fallen in the woods near Triaucourt.
"Luf told me how it happened. He was leading the patrol when they
sighted a flock of enemy single-seaters about 500 meters higher up and not
very far distant. They were in the sun, so Luf immediately turned back
toward our lines for altitude, hoping to come round them later with the sun
in his favor. He saw that the others were all following him, noses up, climb-
ing with him for all they were worth. Well, a moment later, looking back
again he found that Mac had turned back and was going straight for the
Boches. He was a long way off. Why he did it no one knows. Luf thinks that
he may not have seen the Germans at all, for they were right in the sun. But
Mac was a man to take chances, even very long ones. Furthermore, I know
how keen he was on getting his first victory.
"Before the others could help him, two Germans were on his tail, and they
got him in the first burst. He received two bullets in the head, so that he
could n't have known what hit him. His body was not mangled, for which we
were all profoundly glad, particularly for his mother's sake. She is in France
and attended the funeral.
"I've been transferred back from Spa. 112 and am with 124 again; but
with Mac gone, it does n't seem like the same old crowd. ..."
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DOUGLAS MacMONAGLE
So said all of his old comrades of the Escadrille Lafayette. The war was
far from being finished at that time, and many fine fellows came later to join
the Squadron; but Mac's place was never filled, in the hearts of his old
friends. He was a man's kind of man, a hater of pretense, and the born
enemy of "barracks-flyers." He had a caustic tongue and a formidable wit
THE FIRING-SQUAD AT DOUGLAS MacMONAGLE'S FUNERAL
with which to wield it. To hear him rebuke one of these futile birds who rolled
up flying time while on leave in Paris, was a privilege to be grateful for. He
was always self-depreciating, but his actions belied his own account of them.
After his service with the American Field Ambulance, he went at once into
Aviation without the long, pleasant interval of leave in America which many
ambulance drivers found necessary before entering another branch of service.
He was an excellent combat pilot, and if he had lived, would have been
counted among the aces. He is buried at Triaucourt in the Verdun Sector in
a little plot of ground which will forever be sacred to all the surviving mem-
bers of the Lafayette Corps.
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SERVICE RECORD
Charles T. Malone, Ossining, New York.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1916-
17-
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: March 21, 19 17.
Aviation Schools: April 3 to September 15, 1917,
Avord, Pau.
Injured in accident at Pau: September 15, 19 17.
Released from French Aviation because of
injuries received in accident.
CHARLES T. MALONE
M'
"ALONE is exceedingly-
lucky to be alive, but in
another sense is one of
the unluckiest men in the Corps.
Eager to get to the Front, he gave
promise, at Avord, of making a
first-class combat pilot. At Pau the
instructors had remarked the skill
and daring with which he piloted
the Nieuport until the day came when he was sent up to do his altitude, on
a 120 H.P. machine. Writing to Major Gros of this sortie, Malone said:
"A Frenchman and I went up to 5000 meters for an altitude, and while
there I ran out of essence, which forced me to come down. I was not accus-
tomed to the 120 H.P. motor, which is very heavy, and I overdid the descent
a little, coming down so fast that I lost consciousness. I went into a vrille
while unconscious and the rush of air must have revived me, for I came to in
time to make some sort of a landing. I took the chimney off a house and ran
into a ditch, turning the machine over and hurting one of my eyes and my
head. I think I am about the luckiest man in France to have gotten away
with my life."
With keenness undiminished by his accident and a long term in hospital,
Malone still hoped to reach the Front, but in July, 1918, the medical author-
ities declared him unfit for further flying and sent him to Lyons, where he
was discharged.
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SERVICE RECORD
Kenneth Mark, San Francisco, California.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 191 5-
16.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 20, 1916.
Aviation Schools: August 8, 19 16, to March 26,
1917, Buc, Avord, Cazeaux,
Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: January 7, 1917 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette, March 29,
191 7 to February 18, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Captain: January 26, 1918.
Promoted Major: September 17, 1918.
At the Front: 103d Pursuit Squadron, February
18 to March 29, 19 18.
94th Pursuit Squadron, April 1
to June, 1918.
(As Flight Commander and later
as Commanding Officer.)
On duty in U.S., June, 1918, to Armistice.
Decorations :
Croix de Guerre ', with Palm and Star.
CITATION
G.Q.G., £tat-Major. Le 8 octobre, 191 7
Lc Chef d'fitat-Major de la 2™ Armee cite a l'Ordre de l'Aeronautique:
Marr, Kenneth, N° M le 11843, Sergent Pilote a l'Escadrille N. 124
Citoyen americain engage au service de la France. Pilote de chasse de valeur. Le 19 sep-
tcmbre a contribue a la chute d'un avion ennemi. Le 22 sepfembre dans un combat contre
plusieurs monoplaces ennemis a eu son avion tres gravement endommage. A reussi par son
adresse et son sang-froid a le ramener dans nos lignes.
Ordre N° 12058 "D" G.Q.G., 29 novembre, 1918
Le Capitaine Kenneth Marr, Commandant TEscadrille Americaine 94
Excellent Commandant d'Escadrille, d'une bravoure legendaire, a ete un bel exemple pour
toute son unite. Deja cite.
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KENNETH MARR
KENNETH MARR knew intimately half the personnel of the French
Air Service from the Commandants down to the popote orderlies.
"Ah! Bonjour, Marr> comment (a va, mon vieuxV* This was the
friendly cordial greeting he had from French pilots all along the Western
Front. Unofficially and quite unconsciously he did liaison work of the most
valuable kind; for knowing him, Frenchmen were bound to feel kindly
disposed toward America, whatever
their native prejudices against the
country may have been. He was a
tres bon camarade with all of them,
despite the fact that he spoke French
as a Californian, long resident in
Alaska, would inevitably speak it.
The chief reason for all this was, of
course, that he had a gift for friend-
ship. But in addition, his service
record in France dates back to the
beginning of 1916 when he was driv-
ing an ambulance for the Ameri-
can Field Service at the time of the
great German offensive at Verdun.
When his term of enlistment with
the Ambulance had expired, he at
once joined the French Air Service
and returned to the Front as a pilot
March 29, 191 7. He remained with
the Escadrille Lafayette until March
29, 191 8. Upon this latter date he
was sent, with Captains Peterson
and Hall, to the 94th Aero Squadron
mark at chaudun (aisne). 1917 — the first American combat unit,
after the Lafayette, to be placed on
active duty. A few weeks afterward he was promoted Major and placed in
command of the 94th, the squadron of Rickenbacker, Campbell, Meissner,
Chambers, Winslow, Chapman, and Davis. He was sent on duty to America
in the summer of 1918.
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SERVICE RECORD
Didier Masson, Los Angeles, California.
Previous Service: 129th and 36th Infantry Regi-
ments (French), August to October, 1914.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: October, 1914.
Aviation Schools: Pau, R.G.A.
Breveted: May 10, 1915 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille C. 18, March to Septem-
ber, 1915.
Escadrille N. 68, September, 191 5,
to April, 19 16.
On duty as moniteur at Cazeaux, April 16 to
June 19, 1916.
Escadrille Lafayette, June 19,
1916, to February 15, 1917.
On duty as instructor at Avord, February 15
to June 14, 1917.
Escadrille Lafayette, June 16 to
October 8, 19 17.
With Escadrille N. 461, Camp Retranche de
Paris, October 10 to October 28, 1917.
On duty as Instructor at American A.I.C.
(Issoudun), October 28, 1917, to October 1,
1918.
Final Rank: Adjudant.
Decorations:
Medaille Militaire.
Croix de Guerre , with two Palms.
CITATION
Ordre N° 4022 "£>," le 8 novembre, 1916
Grand Quartier-G£neral des Armees, £tat-Major.
En vertu des pouvoirs qui lui sont conferes par la Decision Ministerielle N° 12285 K du 8
aout, 1914, le General Commandant en Chef a confere, a la date du 8 novembre, 1916,
la Medaille Militaire au Militaire dont le nom suit:
Masson, Didier, Adjudant Pilote a l'Escadrille N. 124
Tres ancien pilote; apres avoir pris part a de nombreux reglages de tir et reconnaissances,
a participe vaillamment aux operations de chasse du groupe de Verdun. Le 12 octobre, 1916,
pendant la protection d'un bombardement, a abattu un avion ennemi. A accompli sa mis-
sion jusqu'au bout, malgre une panne d'essence survenue au-dessus des lignes allemandes et
qui l'a oblige a revenir en vol plane.
La nomination ci-dessus comporte l'attribution de la Croix de Guerre avec Palme.
Le General Commandant en Chef
(Signe) Joffre
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DIDIER MASSON
THE oldest of the American volunteers in the Lafayette Flying
Corps, from the point of view of military experience, is Didier Mas-
son, who has been flying almost continually since 1909. In 191 3 he
was Chief of Air Service in the army of General Obregon in Mexico. He is,
perhaps, the only man in the Lafayette, or any other corps, who has com-
prised, in his own person, the entire Air Force of a nation. He knows the
occidental coast of Mexico, as it is known only to the frigate-birds and peli-
cans of that desolate and lonely land. While in the service of General Obre-
gon, he often attacked, single-handed, the entire navy of his chief's implaca-
ble foe, General Huerta. However, this was not a deed of such reckless daring
as might be supposed; for the Huerta navy, in the matter of equipment, was
in a class with the Obregon Air Force. One ancient gunboat, with engines
developing about four knots per hour, manned by beach-combers and other
nautical soldiers of fortune, kept the sea lanes open, after a fashion, for the
Huerta gun-runners. Didier's first appearance above this antique tin pot
caused an immense stir. He was flying a Curtiss of a now forgotten model
and carried a load of tin cans — filled with explosive and tied up with pieces
of wire. Time after time he dropped these missiles on the tin-pot gunboat
with no appreciable result in so far as he could determine.
At the time of the outbreak of the other great war in 1914, Didier resigned
his Mexican commission and offered his experience as a military aviator to
the French Government. At that time he held two brevets: one from the
Aero Club of California and one from the Aero Club of America. He received
his third one in the French Service, in February, 1915, and went to the
Front, first, as a pilot in the French Squadron C. 18. Later, taking pursuit
training, he was transferred to the Combat Squadron N. 68, in September,
191 5, and in July, 1916, to the Escadrille Lafayette. Didier was long chef de
popote of this latter unit. While this was by no means his most distinguished
service at the Front, it was a very useful one. Under his management, the
Squadron mess became famous all along the Western Front, and many dis-
tinguished guests, both French and British, gladly acknowledged the ex-
cellence of his dinners.
In the latter days of the war he was sent to Avord as an instructor in the
French aviation school there. A good many of the later volunteers received
their Nieuport training at his hands, and splendid training it was. Natural
aptitude and a long apprenticeship in flying made him one of the most skillful
pilots in the French Service. Old warrior that he was, he found the work more
suited to his years than the strain of combat patrols. In this position he served
France, and America, the country of his adoption, until the close of the war.
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SERVICE RECORD
William Henry Meeker, New York City.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 3, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 13 to September 11, 191 7,
Avord, Pau.
Breveted: July 26, 1917 (Caudron).
Final Rank: Caporal.
Killed in line of duty: September 11, 1917, at Pau.
WILLIAM HENRY MEEKER
SERIOUS, determined, and intensely patriotic, Meeker was a young
American of the very highest type; had he lived he would have done
splendid work at the Front, and his death at Pau is particularly sad on
this account.
Meeker took the Caudron training and made a most brilliant record at
Avord ; few men have been breveted in a shorter time. He was all anxiety to
get to the Front, and once his Nieuport training was finished, he took the
train for Pau without the loss of an hour. There, while doing a vertical spiral
in an 1 8-meter Nieuport, he fell into a wing slip, as any young pilot is apt to
do, failed to pull out of it in time, and crashed into the ground, killing him-
self instantly. At his funeral the whole school turned out to do him honor;
the coffin-bearers were five comrades of the Lafayette Corps, and Lieutenant
Chevalier, of the United States Navy.
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SERVICE RECORD
Walter B. Miller, New York City.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 19 16-
17.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 10, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: June 16, 1917, to March, 191 8,
Avord, Juvisy, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 10, 191 7 (Caudron).
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant: April 1, 19 18.
At the Front: With First Observation Group,
April 1 to August 3, 1918.
Killed in combat: Near Chateau-Thierry, Au-
gust 3, 1918.
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WALTER B. MILLER
WALTER MILLER was a genuine original, the oddest, drollest,
and most likable of men. His life was a kaleidoscopic succession
of adventures by land and by sea; surveying the coast of Central
America, running shells through the submarine blockade to Archangel, driv-
ing an ambulance on the Western Front, piloting an aeroplane in some of
the heaviest fighting of the war, and meeting death in an epic combat
Left to right: MILLER. BULLEN, SITTERLY. RODGERS, (unidentified), WINSLOW, MACKE
Avord, Summer of 191 7
against thirty enemy machines. Those of us who lived in the same barrack
with Miller will never forget him, his gayety, his optimism, his generosity,
his fine careless courage. On dreary evenings when the rain dripped outside,
it was Miller who cheered us with his inexhaustible repertory of songs and
stories. Half Irish, he had the true story-teller's gift; we followed the inci-
dents of his career, weak with laughter or breathless in suspense. On the
Front he earned the reputation of an indefatigable flyer, aggressive, deter-
mined, and brave as a lion. On August 3, above the battle raging to the
north of Chateau-Thierry, Miller fought his last fight and went down, over-
whelmed by swarming Fokkers.
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SERVICE RECORD
Bennett A. Molter, Wausau, Wisconsin.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: November 2, 191 6.
Aviation Schools: November 8, 19 16, to July 16,
191 7, Buc, Avord, Pau,
G.D.E.
Breveted: May 12, 19 17 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 102, July 20 to
August i, 191 7.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Captain.
On service in U.S., summer of 191 7 to Armistice.
BENNETT A. MOLTER
BENNETT MOLTER was sent to the French Squadron N. 102, in
July, 1917, and soon afterward was injured in a flying accident at his
aerodrome. In August, 1917, he was granted permission to return to
America, and while there transferred to the United States Air Service. He
was commissioned Captain and remained on duty in the United States until
the close of the war.
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SERVICE RECORD
Robert L. Moore, Denison, Texas.
Previous Service: Norton-Harjes Ambulance,
1917.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 24, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: June 9 to November, 1917,
Avord, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 26, 19 17 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille C. 305, November, 191 7,
to January 1, 1918.
Escadrille Spad 96, January 6 to
May 1, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
ROBERT L. MOORE
MOORE went to the G.D.E. without the single-seater training the
majority of Lafayette men had at Avord and at Pau, and was sent,
November, 1917, to fly a Caudron in the Escadrille C. 305. His
ambition was to pilot a scout machine, and he was allowed to return to
Plessis-Belleville for Nieuport training. This alleged training consisted in
giving the pilot, accustomed only to flying the slow and steady Caudron, a
15-meter Nieuport, and telling him to fly; and it is to Moore's credit that he
went to the dubious task without hesitation and finished without wrecking a
machine. On January 1, 1918, he was sent to the Escadrille N. 96, and after
four months of service at the Front, was released from the army on account
of ill health.
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SERVICE RECORD
George Clark Moseley, Highland Park, Illi-
nois.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 10, 1917.
Aviation Schools: July 18 to December 25, 191 7,
Avord, Tours, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 20, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 150, December 27,
1917, to February 4, 1918.
Final Rank: Cap or at.
Service in U.S. Naval Aviation:
Commissioned Ensign: February 4, 1918.
Promoted Lieutenant (Junior Grade).
Naval Aviation School: February 6, to March
10, 1918, Moutchic-Lacanau (Gironde)
At the Front: U.S. Naval Seaplane Station,
Dunkirk, March 15 to June 20,
1918.
U.S. Army Bombing School: June 25, to July
20, 191 8, Clermont-Ferrand.
Attached to English Bombing
Squadron 218, July 25 to Sep-
tember 10, 1918.
Attached to French Squadron, Es-
cadrille de Saint-Pol, September
25 to November 5, 1918.
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GEORGE CLARK MOSELEY
BEFORE he took to flying, Moseley was a famous football player at
Yale, an Ail-American end. Big, bluff, and breezy, his usual saluta-
tion was a tremendous slap on the back, a slap which rendered speech
impossible for several minutes. One imagined him in the air, piloting his
machine with a series of careless and powerful jerks.
With his friend Spencer he went through the schools at Tours, Avord, and
Pau, leaving the record of a fearless and skillful pilot. Still with Spencer, he
was sent to the Escadrille N. 150 on December 27, 1917, and served faithfully
with that unit until his transfer to the Navy in February, 1918. The death
of Spencer, his dearest friend, in January, was a terrible loss to Moseley, but
he carried on with no outward sign of the lasting grief he must have felt.
After his transfer to the Navy, Moseley was stationed at Dunkirk, in a
squadron of hydro-aeroplanes — small, fast machines doing chasse work in
the North Sea. The harbor of Dunkirk was one of the most dangerous sea-
plane bases in use by the Allies during the war — a long, narrow fairway,
whose sides bristled with cranes, wireless poles, and the masts of ships. It
was necessary to take off lengthwise along the basin no matter what the di-
rection of the wind, and on his first "hop" in a hydro Moseley had a crash
from which he was fortunate to escape alive. The wind was strong and across
the fairway. He made a perfect get-away, but the wind caught him as he
passed the point of the quai, drifting him toward two battleships which
were moored side by side, filling half the narrow basin. In spite of his efforts
to pull up and over, the wireless rigging of one of these vessels caught his
pontoons, and after a moment of acrobatics as sensational as they were in-
voluntary, his plane crashed head first onto the deck of the second ship. Af-
ter half an hour of dreamless sleep, Moseley limped back to his quarters, sore
all over, and with a deep cut on his forehead, but ready for another sortie.
He was stationed at Dunkirk until the close of the war.
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SERVICE RECORD
Alan H. Nichols, Palo Alto, California.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 191 7.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 1, 1917.
Aviation Schools: July 26 to December 17, 19 1 7,
Avord, Tours, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 18, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadriile Spad 85, December 19,
1917, to June 2, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Killed in combat: June 2, 1918, near MorUdidier.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with two Palms.
CITATIONS
Citation a VOrdre de VArmee:
Le 13 juin, 191 8
Nichols, Alan, du i tt Regiment Stranger,
Pilote a PEscadrille Spad 85
Excellent pilote americain engage dans
Parmee francaise. A toujours montre de
grandes qualites de sang-froid et d'energie.
Attaque par deux monoplaces ennemis, en a
abattu un en flammes.
Le 13 juillet, 191 8
Citation a VOrdre de VArmee:
Nichols, Alan, Sergent du i cr Regiment, fitranger, Pilote a TEscadrille Spad 85
Citoyen americain engage dans Parmee francaise pour la duree de la guerre, pilote ener-
gique, brave, et plein d'entrain, modele de calme et de devoir. Tres grievement blesse en
attaquant un avion ennemi, a garde cependant assez de calme et de presence d'esprit pour
pouvoir ramener son avion dans nos lignes.
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ALAN H. NICHOLS
NICHOLS was a quiet and rather serious boy, who showed little in-
terest in the cafes and boulevards, and made almost a cult of his
flying. His comrades at Tours, where he was breveted on October
1 8, 1917, recognized in him a natural flyer, with a genuine love for the air.
Pau was a memorable stage in his progress; a step nearer the Front, and the
first opportunity to do unlimited flying of the kind he liked.
'I finished vol de groupe this morning," he wrote his family; "the most
"i
NICHOLS'S COMRADES: ROLL-CALL AT TOURS
fascinating thing imaginable. One learns to fly in formation, exactly as they
patrol the lines at the Front. Each man has a big number on the side of his
plane, and a position in the groupe, which he must keep and still follow the
leader. The moniteur gives a meeting-place, such as ' 1000 meters above the
chateau/ or, '1500 meters over the square wood/ and the first to arrive cir-
cles over the spot until the others come up. When they see each other's num-
bers, the leader starts off — it is up to him where. That is the value of it;
they turn you loose to experiment and you learn a lot by yourself. We got
some wonderful views of the sparkling, snowy Pyrenees, rough like the Si-
erras and solidly snow-covered. As for grand-stand seats, we have them! At
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ALAN H. NICHOLS
the end, I spiraled down — right-hand, too — and hit the piste and landed
without turning the engine on again, which pleased me very much."
Nichols reached the Front on December 19, 1917, assigned to the Esca-
drille Spad 85, and soon proved his mettle by shooting down a German
monoplace in flames — the combat witnessed by his friend, George Kyle. On
June 2, 191 8, he made his last patrol. Over the German lines, beyond Sois-
sons, he saw two enemy machines above him and became detached from his
patrol while getting into position to attack. As he opened fire, a third Ger-
man, whom he had not seen, dove on him from behind and shot him through
the stomach. In spite of the shock and loss of blood, Nichols disengaged him-
self with characteristic coolness and managed to make a landing in the
French lines. At 2.30 in the afternoon he was brought in an ambulance to the
Royallieu Hospital, near Compiegne, where American nurses did everything
possible for him and sat at the bedside while he rallied enough to tell of the
combat. From the first it was evident that there was no hope for him;
through the afternoon and evening he sank gradually, without suffering, and
died just before midnight.
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SERVICE RECORD
Charles B. Nordhoff, Los Angeles, California.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1916-
17.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 3, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: June 14, 1917, to January 12,
1918, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 30, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille N. 99, January 15 to
February 19, 1918.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant: February 19,
1918.
Promoted First Lieutenant: February 20, 1919.
At the Front: Assigned to French Squadron N.
99, February 19 to July 1 1, 191 8.
On executive Staff, U.S. Air Service, July 11
to Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
CITATION
Citation a VOrdre de VAeronautique:
Engage volontaire dans Paviation fran-
chise, ou il a servi pendant six mois. A fait
preuve de courage et de decision en livrant de nombreux combats, notamment le 29 mai, 191 8,
ou il a, avec sa patrouille, abattu un avion ennemi.
CHARLES B. NORDHOFF
BREVETED at Avord on October 30, 191 7, Nordhoff got to the Front
on January 15 of the following year, assigned to the Escadrille N. 99,
then stationed at Luneville. In March the N. 99 went to Manoncourt,
near Nancy, as one of the squadrons forming the new Groupe de Combat 20,
which numbered among its pilots Thompson, Shoninger, Fairchild, Bullen,
and Sinclaire. The groupe led the dreamy life of the Lorraine Front until the
German attack in the Champagne, when it was gent successively to Villese-
neux, Lormaison, and Villiers Saint-Georges. On July 11, Nordhoff (who had
transferred to the Air Service and was flying as an American officer attached
to the French) was ordered to report to the Executive Staff of the Air Serv-
ice, where he spent the balance of the war in removirfg split infinitives from
military reports — a task for which the training of a chasse pilot fitted him
perfectly.
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SERVICE RECORD
Carter Landram Ovington, Paris, France.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: April 20, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: May 8 to December 10, 191 7.
Avord, Pau, Cazeaux,G.D.E.
Breveted: August 31, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 85, December 2,
191 7, to January 9, 1918.
Escadrille Spad 98, January 9 to
April 1, 19 1 8.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: April 1, 1918.
At the Front: Attached to the French Squadron
Spad 98, April 1 to May 29,
1918.
Killed in combat: May 29, 191 8, near Fismes.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre > with Palm.
CITATION
Le 16 juin, 191 8
Le General Commandant la 4 e Armee cite a TOrdre de TArmee:
Le Lieutenant Ovington, Carter Landram, Armee Americaine, Escadrille Spa. 98
Officier americain, detache sur sa demande dans une escadrille de chasse francaise. Jeune
pilote d'elite qui s'est imposee a Testime de tous. Pilote brave, ne demandant qu'a aller de
l'avant. Tombe a Tennemi le 29 mai, 1918.
(Signe) Gouraud
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CARTER LANDRAM OVINGTON
THOUGH born and bred in Europe, Ovington preserved his Ameri-
can characteristics and in all his actions showed the good stock he
sprang from. He was the only son of the late Edward J. and Mrs.
Georgia Ovington, the devoted Secretary of the Lafayette Flying Corps.
The families of both his father and mother were warm-hearted friends of
France. Curiously enough his grandfather, H. A. Ovington, of Brooklyn,
New York, was Colonel of the Lafayette Guard on the occasion of General
Lafayette's last visit to America in 1824.
Long before America declared war, Ovington, though barely nineteen,
became restless and talked of nothing but his desire to enter Aviation. His
LANDRAM OVINGTON AND AUSTIN PARKER
mother with true Spartan courage made no attempt to dissuade him from
the course which his sense of duty dictated, though she was terrified at the
thought of the dangers which her boy would run. Ovington had the nature
of a born aviator. He was proficient in all sports, and never happier than
when rushing his motor-cycle at full speed around dangerous corners.
He took to aviation training readily and left a remarkable record at the
schools, with no breakage. His perfect knowledge of French and his under-
standing of the people made him very popular with his French officers, and
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CARTER LANDRAM OVINGTON
when assigned to the French Escadrille N. 98, he quickly won their re-
spect and admiration. He was eager for patrol, handled his machine deli-
cately and skillfully, and loved the air as his element. When commissioned
as First Lieutenant in the United States Air Service in April, 1918, he was
assigned to the American Acceptance Park at Orly. But he was eager to re-
turn to the Front. His Squadron Commander made a strong request to have
him reassigned to his Squadron, where, a little more than a month later, he
was doomed to fall under particularly dramatic circumstances.
May 29, the day of his death, will always remain in the memory of those
who were in France as one of the most dreary and discouraging of the whole
war. The weather was atrocious, dark and cold with low-lying clouds envel-
oping the earth like a wet blanket. The Germans had succeeded in their sur-
prise drive west of Rheims, in front of Chateau-Thierry, and it looked as
though they would push their lines to the gates of Paris. Their offensive in
this sector was so unexpected that few French squadrons were before them.
The 98th was called upon to help offset this deficiency and Ovington with his
comrades rose to the occasion. He was in the air many times that day, meet-
ing the onrushing German machines, attacking enemy patrols at four differ-
ent times during a single sortie. Once, when his gun jammed, he landed in a
field, repaired it, and flew off again. Upon returning to camp, about 12.45,
he found other patrols ready to start and immediately volunteered. His
Commanding Officer, Captain Cauboue, who was leading the first one, gave
him the direction of the second, consisting of two other French machines.
Their mission took them far behind the German lines in an attack on Ger-
man balloons. It was on the homeward journey, that, owing to the low-lying
clouds, which the machines were obliged to penetrate, Ovington collided
head on with a French machine, piloted by Sergent L. Hoor. The pilot of the
third machine, who witnessed the collision, reported that the wings of both
Spads were torn asunder by the terrific impact, and that the wreckage fell
upon the German troops in the region of Lagery, north of Chateau-Thierry.
This region was the scene of fierce fighting, the Germans being finally thrown
back by the French and American troops. Neither his grave nor that of his
comrade, nor the remains of their machines, have ever been found.
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SERVICE RECORD
David Sheldon Paden, Evans ton, Illinois.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 191 7.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 14, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: August I, 191 7, to September
4, 191 8, Avord, Tours, Cha-
teauroux, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: May 26, 19 18 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 163, September 6,
19 1 8, to Armistice.
Final Rank: Sergent. %
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATION
IV e Armee. 27 octobre, 191 8
Citation d VOrdre de V Armee:
Sergent Paden, David Sheldon
Excellent pilote recherchant toutes les oc-
casions de combat. A le 30 septembre, 191 8,
remporte sa premiere victoire en abattant
un biplace ennemi.
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DAVID SHELDON PADEN
PADEN was one of the last men to enlist in the Lafayette Flying
Corps. He arrived at Avord on August I, 1917; was breveted at Cha-
teauroux in May of the following year, and reached the Front in Sep-
tember. His squadron at that time was flying over the sector between Rheims
and the Argonne, and Paden as a beginner was thrown into some of the
heaviest fighting of the summer. He has had many interesting experiences,
one of which he describes in the following passage from a letter to Major
Gros:
"We were flying at about 1000 meters, just under a heavy bank of clouds,
which we dodged into from time to time to get away from the Boche A.A.
gunners. Almost under us, at about 200 meters from the ground, four
Spads and four Fokkers mysteriously appeared and started a scrap. From
our altitude they looked like a bunch of gnats flying around in a little tight
circle. We dove into the mess and climbed on the merry-go-round, as it
were. Everybody was chasing around in a circle trying to get directly be-
hind an enemy plane and not daring to leave the circle for fear another
plane would line up and start business. About half the machines were sim-
ply firing off into space as far as I could figure. Every time I got a Boche
in front of me lined up in my sights, I got a bit nervous about the one behind
me, took a look at him, and lost the man in front. Finally, as if by mutual
consent, the circle broke up. I saw one Spad leave in a fairly steep dive with
a Fokker right behind him. I saw them only for a moment, as I was busy
watching several unpleasant neighbors who seemed to have intentions of
giving me lead poison. When we got back to our field we lacked one pilot*,
Sergent Fery ; he was the one I had seen with the Boche, diving for our lines.
He landed in the midst of an old trench, with two bullets in his legs and one
that passed through his neck."
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SERVICE RECORD
Henry Brewster Palmer, New York City.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1916-
17-
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 25, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: June 9 to November 12, 191 7,
Avord, Pau.
Breveted: September 30, 19 17 (Caudron).
Final Rank: Caporal.
Died of pneumonia at Pau, November 12, 1917.
Decorations :
Croix de Guerre \ with Star (Ambulance).
CITATION
Citation a POrdre du Brigade:
The Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of
the Orient, cites to the Order of the
Brigade:
Palmer, Henry Brewster
Volunteer in the American Ambulance,
Section No. 3, before the entry of the United
States into the war. For courageous action in
removing wounded in the region of Monastir
between October and December, 1916.
HENRY BREWSTER PALMER
PALMER'S death was particularly sad. Long before our
ition of war, impelled by a genuine sense of the justice of the
cause, he was in active service as an ambulance driver on the
Western Front and in Macedonia. But the part of a non-combatant was not
to his liking, and on May 16, 1917, he applied for enlistment in the Lafayette
Flying Corps. Even at Avord he chafed under the delays due to bad weather,
yearning always to do a man's work at the Front. Palmer was considered one
of the most brilliant Bleriot pilots among the later group at Avord. A flyer by
instinct, he had a delicacy of touch and precision of eye that were wonderful,
and his landings, light as eiderdown, were a delight to watch. At last the day
came when he finished his brevet and Nieuport training at Avord and took
the train for Pau, overjoyed to be a step nearer the Front. Those of us who
stayed behind never saw him again. Struck down by swift pneumonia, he
died shortly afterward. His body lies on a sunny hillside near Pau.
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SERVICE RECORD
Austin Gillette Parker, Helena, Montana.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 2, 19 17.
Aviation School: May 8 to December 15, 1917,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 24, 19 17 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 85, December 19,
1917, to January 9, 1918.
Escadrille Spad 98, January 9 to
April 13, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Naval Aviation:
Commissioned Ensign: May 24, 1918.
U.S. Naval Air Station, Lake Bol-
sena, Italy.
At the Front: U.S. Naval Air Station, Porto
Corsini, Italy.
Attached, 241st (Italian) Combat
Squadron.
Decoration:
Italian War Cross.
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AUSTIN GILLETTE PARKER
IT is impossible to think of Parker without thinking of Dudley Tucker,
for they were inseparable companions; together they adventured
through the jungles of Central America, made the voyage to France,
enlisted in the Lafayette Flying Corps, and went through the Bleriot School
at Avord. With Bluthenthal, they lived at the Hotel Turco, and after dinner,
when the smiling Suzanne brought coffee and liqueurs to the little table in
the corner, the conversation was always worthy of a listener's ear. While
Bluie puffed at his pipe, with an occasional nod or grunt of approval, Tucker
told of the curious sides of life he had seen as business manager of the Wash-
ington Square Theater, and Parker spoke of newspapers and their making.
Never again in this world can the pleasant trio meet, for both Tucker and
Bluthenthal were killed in combat on the Marne.
Parker went at his flying methodically and conscientiously, but he had the
old newspaper man's contempt for thrills and took no part in the usual bour-
rage de crane. He was breveted on September 24, 191 7, and arrived at the
Front on December 19, assigned to the Escadrille N. 85. He made an excel-
lent record with his unit and transferred to the Navy on May 24, 191 8.
After a period of instruction on naval planes at Lake Bolsena, Italy, he was
placed on active duty at the U.S. Naval Air Station at Porto Corsini. During
the last offensive on the Italian Front he was attached to the 241st Combat
Squadron of the Royal Italian Naval Air Service. For his service here and
at Porto Corsini he was awarded the Italian War Cross.
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SERVICE RECORD
Edwin Charles Parsons, Springfield, Massa-
chusetts.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1915-
16.
Service in French Aviation:
Date 0} enlistment: April 13, 1916.
Aviation Schools: May 15, 1916, to January 20,
191 7, Buc, Avord, Cazeaux,
Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: August 23, 19 16 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette, January 25,
191 7, to February 26, 191 8.
Escadrille Spad 3, April 24, 1918,
to Armistice.
Final Rank: Sons-Lieutenant.
Decorations:
Medaille Militaire.
Croix de Guerre, with eight Palms.
Croix de Guerre (Belgian).
Croix de Leopold (Belgian).
CITATIONS
II e Arm£e. 3 octobre, 191 7
Le General Commandant la 2 mc Armee cite a TOrdre de PArmee:
Parsons, Edwin, Sergent au i er Regiment fitranger, Pilote a rEscadrille N. 124
Bon pilote de chasse qui execute avec entrain les missions qui lui sont confiees. Le 4 sep-
tembre a attaque et abattu un avion ennemi en pieces sur Neuvilly (i er avion).
l hK Armee. 25 mai, 1918
Citoyen americain fait preuve depuis deux ans deja comme pilote de chasse d'un devoue-
ment absolu, d'une joyeuse bravoure. Le 6 mai, 191 8, a abattu seul son 2 C avion ennemi.
I irc Armee. 4Juin y 1918
Excellent pilote de chasse. A abattu seul le 17 mai, 1918, son 3 e avion ennemi.
Citation a VOrdre de V Armee :
Excellent pilote de chasse. Execute avec intelligence toute mission. A abattu le 19 mai,
191 8, son 4 me avion ennemi.
Citation a VOrdre de V Armee:
Pilote tres energique, plein de courage et d'entrain. Le 20 mai, 191 8, a abattu son 5* me avion
ennemi.
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EDWIN CHARLES PARSONS
Medaille Militaire :
Citoyen americain pilote, d'elite, executant avec cranerie et bonne humeur les missions les
plus ingrates. A abattu le son sixieme avion ennemi. Cinq citations.
Citation a VOrdre de VArm'ee:
Excellent pilote de chasse, remarquable pour son audace, bravoure, et devouement. A
abattu le 26 septembre, 19 18, son septieme avion ennemi.
Citation d VOrdre de VArmee:
Pilote de chasse exceptionnel pour son courage; un vrai modele pour ses camarades. Le
i er octobre a descendu tres bas dans les lignes ennemies et abattu son huitieme avion ennemi
dan les tres durs circonstances.
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EDWIN CHARLES PARSONS
PARSONS is one of the American volunteers who was referred to by
the French Pilots in G.C. 13 as un chic type. This is about as far as
Frenchmen can go in the matter of compliment. One must have been
born to the distinction, and then, in war-time, to have earned it all over
again at the Front. Parsons was and did. Seeing him on leave one might eas-
ily have thought him an amateur des boulevards who had never been nearer
the Front than the Camp Rentranche de Paris. The resemblance was only
superficial, for his eyes were never turned toward that promised land of all
aviateurs embusques. Permission over, he got into his well-worn flying clothes
and a pair of sabots, and could always be seen, ten minutes before patrol
time, clopping briskly out to the aerodrome.
Many an aeroplane engine has grown tired in his service, for he worked
them hard. His old "E.C.P." bus was a well-ridden and frequently a well-
riddled bird. His year of service at the Front with Spad 124 came at a time
when the battle for supremacy between French and German airmen was the
most keenly contested, and the odds in numbers of combat machines if any-
thing on the side of the latter. Ted could always be counted to hold up his
end of a combat. Doubtless there were plenty of times when he was badly
frightened. But he had a way of concealing his emotions of whatever kind,
so that no one could ever be certain that he was anything but bored or highly
amused at the results of his adventures. He remained with Spad 124 until
February, 1918, when it became the 103d Aero Squadron of the United
States Air Service. Realizing the chaotic condition of American Aviation at
that time, and profiting by the experience. of other American volunteers who
were being transferred, and losing weeks and even months of flying duty in
the process, he decided to remain with the French. He liked the French Serv-
ice and hoped to organize a second Escadrille Lafayette among those Ameri-
cans who were remaining in French squadrons. This plan was not feasible,
however, so he was transferred to Spad 3, the old escadrille of Guynemer of
the famous Cigognes group. During the spring and summer of 1918 he
brought down seven more enemy planes, all of them officially confirmed.
While with the Cigognes, he was given the rank of Sous-Lieutenant, the
Medaille Militaire, the Belgian Croix de Leopold, and added seven more
palms to his Croix de Guerre. He has been generously honored by the French,
in return for three years of gallant and faithful service for that country and
for America.
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SERVICE RECORD
Paul Pavelka, Madison, Connecticut.
Previous Service: Foreign Legion (Infantry),
November 28, 19 14, to Oc-
tober 10, 1915.
Wounded while serving with
Legion.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: October 18, 1915.
Aviation Schools: December 10, 1915, to August 8,
1916, Pau, Cazeaux, G.D.E.
Breveted: February 23, 1916 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Eacadrille Lafayette, August 11,
1916, to January 24, 191 7.
Escadrille N. 391, February 8 to
June 15, 1917.
Escadrille N. 507, June 15 to No-
vember 11, 19 1 7.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Killed in line of duty: Near Salonica, November
12, 1917.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATION
Citation to the Order of the Army:
Pavelka, Paul, Sergeant, Aviation Pilot
with the Army of the Orient
An American volunteer he enlisted for the duration of the war; was badly wounded while
an infantryman, in June, 1916; was transferred to the Aviation and became a keen fighting
pilot, being tenacious and very conscientious. While in the Near East he has always been on
the go, giving untiring proof of devotion to duty. Fought numerous air duels, following which
he frequently returned with his machine riddled by bullets.
PAUL PAVELKA
PAUL PAVELKA went to France in October, 191 4, as a member of the
Army of Counani, obtained his release from this corps and joined the
Foreign Legion. On the 9th of May, 1915, when the Legion attacked
the German positions north of Arras, it was Pavelka who gave first-aid to
Kiffin Rockwell who was wounded in the leg during the advance. Five weeks
later, on the 16th of June, Pavelka himself received a bayonet wound in the
leg during the bitter hand-to-hand fighting in the enemy trenches around
Givenchy. He returned to duty before the Champagne offensive of September
and October, 1915, and took part in all of the fighting in which his regiment
was engaged throughout this battle.
In December, 191 5, he was transferred to French Aviation, and joined the
Escadrille Lafayette at Verdun in August, 1916. One of his earliest experi-
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PAUL PAVELKA
ences at the Front as an airman was that of falling in flames, a more terrible
one, as he afterward said, than any he had known in the infantry. By wing-
slipping, he was able to keep the flames away from the carlingue of his Nieu-
port, and fell unhurt into a swamp.
Pavelka was a great lover of adventure and wanted an experience of war as
widely diversified as possible. Therefore, in December, 1916, he asked that
PAVELKAS FUNERAL IN SALONICA IN NOVEMBER, 1917
he be sent to the Army 6i the Orient. He was attached first to the Escadrille
N. 391 and later to N. 507, operating on the Salonica front. After his three
years of fighting as an infantryman and aviator, it was the irony of fate that
he should be killed by an accident related to neither of these branches of
service. He was an enthusiastic horseman, and one day while off duty under-
took to ride a vicious animal belonging to an officer of a British cavalry regi-
ment stationed near his aerodrome. The horse fell with him and he received
internal injuries from which he died on November 12, 191 7. Pavelka was
widely known throughout the Allied armies stationed at Salonica. He had
made a splendid record for himself there, and all of his airmen comrades to-
gether with many British and French officers of other branches of service
were at his grave. The piquet tThonneur was furnished by a battalion of the
Foreign Legion and there was also an armed guard of Serbian soldiers. He
was one of the few survivors of the famous American Section of the 2 C Regi-
ment du Marche of the Foreign Legion, and one of the earliest of the volun-
teers of the Lafayette Corps. Pavelka's name stands high among those who
joined the service of France when the need was greatest.
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SERVICE RECORD
Alfred D. Pelton, Montreal, Canada.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: February 19, 1917.
Aviation Schools: February 27 to September 25,
1917, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: July 15, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille N. 151, September 27
to December 1, 19 17.
Escadrille N. 97, March 5 to
May 31, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Killed in combat: May 31, 19 18, near Soissons.
ALFRED D. PELTON
ALTHOUGH he was a Cana-
/Jk dian both in birth and resi-
-*. A dence, Alfred Pelton was so
eager for service in France that the
executive committee of the Lafayette
Corps decided to make an exception
in his case and to admit him to mem-
bership. Pelton was as much at home
with the Americans in the French
Air Service as were the scores of Americans who enlisted in the Canadian
Air Force. He was sent to the French Squadron N. 151, where he was the
only Lafayette Corps representative. Throughout the autumn and early
winter of 1917, he acted as host to every American pilot who landed at his
aerodrome at Chaux, near Belfort, on the Vosges Sector, and many of them
who landed there for fuel or food will long remember his friendly, cordial
greeting and his warm-hearted hospitality.
He was granted a three months' furlough in the winter, and upon his re-
turn to the Front in March, 1918, was sent to N. 97, where he did faithful
and excellent work during the great German offensive of that spring. He was
in the thick of heavy fighting, the most severe of all of it coming at the end
of May, when the enemy crossed the Chemin des Dames and pushed on to
Chateau-Thierry. For a time Allied pilots were greatly outnumbered, and
many of them were shot down during battles in which the odds were all
against them. Alfred Pelton was killed on the 31st of May, when his squad-
ron was bravely carrying the fight into enemy territory. He fell within the
German lines in the region of Soissons, and was at first thought to have been
made prisoner. It was not until four months later that news of his death was
received through the International Red Cross.
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SERVICE RECORD
David McKelvy Peterson, Honesdale, Penn-
sylvania.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: October 9, 1916.
Aviation Schools: October 16, 1916, to June 14,
1917, Buc, Avord, Pau,
G.D.E.
Breveted: April 16, 1917 (Blcriot).
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette, June 16,
1917, to February 18, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Captain: January 19, 1918.
Promoted Major: August 29, 1918.
At the Front: 103 d Pursuit Squadron, February
18 to March 29, 1918.
94th Pursuit Squadron, April 1 to
May 25, 1918.
CO. 95th Pursuit Squadron, May
25 to October 8, 19 18.
On duty in America from October 8, 1918, to
Armistice.
Killed in line of duty: March 16, 191 9, at Day-
tona Beach, Florida.
Decorations:
Distinguished Service Cross, with Bronze Oak
Leaf.
Croix de Guerre, with Palms.
CITATIONS
G.H.Q., A.E.F.
Captain David McK. Peterson, A.S., Aero Squadron
For extraordinary heroism in action near Luneville, France, on May 3, 1918. Leading a
patrol of three, Captain Peterson encountered five enemy planes at an altitude of 3500
meters and immediately gave battle. Notwithstanding the fact that he was attacked from
all sides, this officer, by skillful maneuvering, succeeded in shooting down one of the enemy
planes and dispersing the remaining four.
The Bronze Oak Leaf is awarded to Captain Peterson for extraordinary heroism in action
near Thiaucourt, France, on May 15, 1918. While on a patrol alone, Captain Peterson en-
countered two enemy planes at an altitude of 5200 meters. He promptly attacked despite
the odds and shot down one of the enemy planes in flames. While thus engaged he was at-
tacked from above by the second enemy plane, but by skillful maneuvering he succeeded in
shooting it down also. _ . , _ , _
By command of General Pershing
VI C Armee. 9 novembre, 191 7
Le General Maistre, Commandant la VI e Armee, cite a l'Ordre de 1 'Armee:
Peterson, David McKelvy, Sergent (Legion Etrangere), Pilote a l'Escadrille 124
Excellent pilote de chasse a rEscadrille Lafayette. D'un crane et d'une conscience ad-
mirables. Le 19 septembre, 191 7, a abattu un avion ennemi, le poursuivant dans sa chute
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DAVID McKELVY PETERSON
jusqu'a mo ins de 500 metres d'altitude, malgre les canons et mitrailleuses ennemis (i CT
avion).
Le 24 octobre, 191 7, s'est depense sans compter attaquant a tres faible altitude, les re-
serves ennemies qu'il a mitraillees a plusieurs reprises.
Citation a VOrdre de VArmee: 29 novembre, 191 8
Excellent officier et pilote audacieux, d'une habilete et d'un courage exceptionnel. Le 15
mai, 191 8, a battu deux avions ennemis dans le secteur de Saint-Mihiel. Deja deux fois cite.
DAVID McKELVY PETERSON
THERE are two Lafayette men, beside himself, who remember well
the day when David Peterson walked into the Bureau de Recrute-
ment at the Invalides to sign his papers for admission to French
Aviation. He came down the hallway whistling "The Girl I Left Behind
Me," a horribly tuneless execution of the air. These other recruits thought
this an evidence of natural excitement upon a very great occasion. But they
did n't know Peterson. They soon learned of their mistake and kept on learn-
ing better of it throughout two years of association with him in French avia-
tion schools and at the Front.
It may be said without any exaggeration that he is the only American who
has never had a thrill from his adventures as an airman. No event of the war
ever stirred the tranquil depths of his nature. He simply could n't be elated
or depressed, frightened or overjoyed. The first tour de piste, the first brevet
flight with the inevitable panne de chateau, the first vrille at the ficole d'Acro-
bacy at Pau, the first patrol over the lines, the first official victory — these
events, so memorable in the lives of most pilots, he accepted with admirable
placidity. For him, red-letter days had no existence.
As a patrol leader, he was without an equal, and he led more patrols than
any other pilot of the Lafayette Squadron. With his blue-pennanted Spad
in front, dodging its way among the eclatements, pilots in the machines fol-
lowing were in no danger of a surprise attack from enemy chasse planes.
He saw everything while in the air. Often those of us who were with him
received our first intimation that there were Germans in the neighborhood
when he "waggled" his warning, tipped up and dove. We had only to follow
him down to be led to the enemy in quick time.
When the air was quiet, with not a white shell-burst on the sector to
announce a foe, he would edge over, farther and farther into Germany, look-
ing for something exciting to do. Suddenly he would "point" and hold a
straight course, motor wide open; and we thinking, "Now, what is he up to?"
Sometimes it would be a balloon, and although in those days the French
had no incendiary bullets capable of igniting one, we shot at the bag for
the sport of seeing the Germans haul it down. Sometimes it was a train,
or motor transport on the roads. Coming back to the aerodrome the rest
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DAVID McKELVY PETERSON
of us would be greatly excited over the events of the patrol, one pilot cursing
a jammed gun, another jubilant because the old Vickers had worked per-
fectly. The mechanicians crowded around eager to hear all about it, ex-
amining the planes for holes. Peterson would jump out of his bus, stretch
his legs, wiggle the kinks out of his neck, and walk over to the Bureau du
Groupe to make out the Compte Rendu — the pilot's report of the events of
the patrol. Then, in the "Remarks"
column he would write in a firm clear
hand, " Rien a signaler" — nothing to
report ! Some of us thought his idea of
nothing to report a rather strange one.
When the weather was bad he was
busy in his room in barracks, build-
ing shelves, making a table or a wash-
stand. His quarters were always the
most comfortable in the place — ex-
cepting only Thaw's, and he had
Percy, his old legionnaire orderly, to
work for him. As Groupe 13 was con-
tinually on the move, following the
offensives, either Allied or enemy, we
had constantly to make new homes
for ourselves in old, draughty Adrien
barracks. For most of us this was a
hopeless task. After tacking a few
strips of tar paper over the larger
cracks and knot-holes, we would give
it up, and adjourn to Pete's room,
always snug and cozy, with a fire and
peterson at avord. april. , 9 , 7 a nf t pile of fuel in the wood-box.
Nothing ever worried him, and that
is the inscription we would have put over his grave if he had been killed.
The sentiment is neither original nor sentimental. But it would have been
very applicable in his case. It still is, if one changes the tense of the verb,
for luckily there has been no change in him. He is still living. 1 The number
of his combats is among the largest of those of Lafayette pilots. Enemy
airmen never succeeded in reaching him with their bullets, although his
Spad was frequently badly damaged. On the 1st of April, 1918, he joined
the 94th Squadron as Flight Commander and was soon placed in command
of the 95th, in which position he completed a splendid record of war service.
A month before the Armistice was signed he was sent on duty to America.
1 While the History of the Lafayette Corps was in preparation for the printers, it was learned that
Major Peterson was killed on March 16, 1919, while flying at Daytona Beach, Florida.
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SERVICE RECORD
Granville A. Pollock, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Previous Service: British Royal Marine Ar-
tillery, January 10, 1915, to February 23, 1916.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: December 24, 19 16.
Aviation Schools: January 1 to July 14, 1917, Buc,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: May 12, 1917 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 102, July 15 to
October 14, 191 7.
Escadrille Spad 65, October 16,
1917, to January 8, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant, January 18,
1918.
Attached to Instrument Division, Technical
Dept. U.S.A.S. Washington, D.C.
Officer in Charge of Flying, American Accept-
ance Park, Orly.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
CITATION
I e Armee, Aeronautique. Le 19 octobre, 191 7
Le General Commandant la I e Armee, cite a l'Ordre de 1 'Aeronautique:
Pollock, Granville, N° M te 12006, Caporal du i er Regiment de la Legion fitrangere,
Pilote a l'Escadrille N. 102
Pilote energique et courageux, s'est specialement distingue le 15 aout, 191 7, dans une pro-
tection de mission photographique, au cours de laquelle il est sorti victorieux d'un combat.
Rentre avec de nombreuses balles dans son appareil.
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GRANVILLE A. POLLOCK
POLLOCK'S war service has been an unusually varied one. In Septem-
ber, 1914, he went to England — hoping that he might be permitted
to enlist in the Royal Naval Air Service. But at that time Americans
were not accepted for British Aviation. He then offered his services to the
Belgian Minister of War. Being again refused, he arranged with a represen-
AMERICANS AT AVORD
Standing (left to right) : Wells, Rheno, Kerwood. Huger, Pollock. Kneeling: Stehlin. Molter, Rounds
tative of the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company, to take charge of a number
of trucks which had been sold to the British Admiralty. This gave him the
entering wedge. He was permitted to enlist in the Royal Marine Artillery,
was given the rank of Staff Sergeant, and placed in charge of all mechanical
work for this brigade of Admiralty cars which mounted anti-aircraft guns.
He served in France until February, 1916, taking part in the battles of
Neuve Chapelle, the second battle of Ypres, Hill 60, and Loos. This anti-
aircraft and siege brigade was then transferred from the Admiralty to the
War Office, and Pollock was honorably discharged.
Returning to France, he enlisted in the Lafayette Corps, and on July 15,
1917, was sent to the French Squadron, Spad 102. While with this unit, he
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GRANVILLE A. POLLOCK
particularly distinguished himself for his photo missions far back of the Ger-
man lines. Pollock made a specialty of this work, using for it a single-seater
photo Spad. He was afterward transferred to Spad 65, of Groupe de Combat
13, a welcome change to him, for here he met again old friends of the Lafa-
yette Squadron.
On January 18, 191 8, he was commissioned First Lieutenant in the United
States Air Service, and granted leave to return to America before taking up
his new duties. In March following, he was attached to the Instrument Di-
vision, Technical Department, U.S.A.S., at Washington, D.C. He was again
sent to France in July, 191 8, as Pilot in Charge of Flying, at the American
Acceptance Park at Orly Field, near Paris. He held that position until the
close of the war.
Eager for further adventure, after the Armistice, Pollock planned a lone
trans-Atlantic flight via the Azores in a two-seater Sampson. He was given
permission by the C.A.S., A.E.F., made his arrangements with the Sampson
Company, and, although it was mid-winter, was ready to take a chance, even
though the hope of succeeding seemed a faint one. Fortunately or unfortu-
nately, General Pershing, hearing of the forlorn hope, refused his sanction.
It was a sad blow to Pollock. He had set his heart upon making the trial, cost
what it might. General Pershing's veto probably saved his life and with this
comfort he has had to be content.
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SERVICE RECORD
William Thomas Ponder, Maugum, Oklahoma.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 4, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 19, 19 17, to February 1,
19 1 8, Avord, Pau, Cazeaux,
G.D.E.
Breveted: November 7, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 67, February 3 to
February 17, 191 8.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant, February 27,
1918.
Ferry Pilot, American Acceptance Park, Orly,
March 22 to May 12, 191 8.
Promoted First Lieutenant, November 2, 1918.
Promoted Captain, May 14, 1919.
At the Front: Attached to French Squadron
Spad 163, May 12 to Septem-
ber 1, 1918.
103d Pursuit Squadron, Septem-
ber 7, 191 8, to Armistice.
Decorations:
Distinguished Service Cross.
Croix de Guerre, with four Palms.
CITATIONS
Ordre N° 1294 " E," IV e Armee, 5 juin, 1918
2 e Lieutenant Ponder, William Thomas, de TAnnee Americaine, detache a
PEscadrille Spa. 163
2 e Lieutenant de l'Armee Americaine, venu sur sa demande dans Taviation francaise, y
fait preuve des plus belles qualites de combat et de sang-froid. A, le , a la tete de sa
patrouille, abattu un avion ennemi.
Order N° 11054 " D," G.Q.G., le 30 octobre, 1918
Lieutenant Ponder, William, Pilote a rEscadrille Spa. 163
Venu sur sa demande a servir dans Taviation francaise, y fait preuve des plus belles qualites
de chasseur. A la tete de sa patrouille a livre un combat au cours duquel un avion ennemi a
ete abattu.
G.H.Q., A.E.F. December 10, 1918
First Lieutenant William T. Ponder, A.S, 103d Aero Squadron, No. 195 1
For extraordinary heroism in action near Fontaines, France, 23 October, 191 8. Having
been separated from his patrol, Lieutenant Ponder observed and went to the assistance of an
Allied plane, which was being attacked by thirteen of the enemy. Against great odds, Lieu-
tenant Ponder destroyed one enemy plane, and so demoralized the rest that both he and
his comrade were able to return to their lines.
By Command of General Pershing
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WILLIAM THOMAS PONDER
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE has been well represented in the Lafa-
yette Flying Corps by such men as Thompson, Whitmore, York,
Dock, and Ponder — all good fellows in the best sense of the word.
In the Bleriot School at Avord, during the occasional sorties obtained be-
tween spells of bad weather, picking up stones, and installing gasoline stor-
age systems, Ponder showed himself a steady and reliable pilot, but none of
us realized the brilliant future that lay ahead of him; probably because he
talked so little of his own flying prowess. Ponder is the ideal Westerner,
large, good-natured, and laconic. He is essentially a man of action, and it
needed the setting of the Front to throw into relief his splendid qualities of
daring and aggressive skill.
He arrived at the Front on February 3, 1918, going to the Escadrille Spad
67. On February 27 he was transferred to the American army, with the rank
of Second Lieutenant, and was soon sent to the Front again, at his own re-
quest, this time to the Spad 163, Groupe de Combat 21. With this groupe, in
company with Cassady and Lamer, Ponder took part in some of the heaviest
fighting of the war, and made a name for himself as a rarely valuable com-
bat pilot. On September 1 he was called to an American squadron, the 103d
Pursuit, with which he served until the war was over.
The curt words of his citations tell the story of Ponder's achievements
better than anything which might be written here. He has seven official vic-
tories to his credit, four French citations to the Order of the Army, and the
American D.S.C.
[389]
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SERVICE RECORD
Frederick H. Prince, Jr., Boston, Massachusetts.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: January 29, 191 6.
Aviation Schools: February 2 to October 20,
1916, Pau, Buc, Cazeaux,
G.D.E.
Breveted: May 21, 19 1 6 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette, October 22,
1916, to February 15, 1917.
Final Rank: Adjudant.
Service in U.S. Army:
Commissioned First Lieutenant, Q.M. Corps.
CO., M.T.C. 549 (in U.S.A.).
Attached to Brigade Staff, 16th Infantry Bri-
gade, 8th Division, at Brest.
FREDERICK H. PRINCE, Jr.
FI
!
FREDERICK PRINCE joined
the French Service at a time
when all prospective aviators
were sent to Dijon to receive their
uniforms and equipment as sold at s
de deuxieme classe. He started training at Pau in February, 1916, was
then sent to Buc, where he completed his brevet tests on Caudron; re-
turned to Pau for further work on the Morane Parasol, went to Cazeaux
for machine-gun practice, and returned to Pau for his work in acrobacy
and combat. He was sent to the Front, to the Escadrille Lafayette, on Oc-
tober 22, 1916, a few days after the death of his brother, Norman, and re-
mained until February when he was sent to Pau as an instructor. In the
spring of 1 91 7 he received orders to report to the French Military Mission at
Washington, D.C., and did not return to France until the end of September.
While at G.D.E. at Le Plessis-Belleville, awaiting reassignment to a squad-
ron, he was ordered to report to the Chef de Liaison attached to the 26th
U.S. Division at Neufchateau, and remained there until the end of January,
1918, when he was sent to Le Bourget as a convoyeur. He was finally released
from the French Service on April 10, 191 8, and failing to meet the require-
ments for the United States Air Service, he returned to America, where he
was commissioned as a First Lieutenant in the Quartermaster Corps. He
commanded the M.T.C. 549 and was afterward sent to Brest, where he
was attached to the staff of General R. E. Bradley, commanding the 16th
Infantry Brigade, 8th Division. He held this position until the close of
hostilities.
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SERVICE RECORD
Norman Prince, Boston, Massachusetts.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: March 4, 1915.
Amotion Schools: Pau, R.G.A., G.D.E.
Breveted: May 1, 1915 (Voisin).
At the Front: Escadrille V.B. 108 and V.B. 113,
May 20, 1915, to February 15,
1916.
Escadrille Lafayette, April 20 to
October 12, 1916.
Injured in line of duty: October 12, 1916.
Died of injuries: October 15, 1916.
Final Rank: Sous-Lieutenant.
Decorations:
Legion d'Honneur.
Medaille Militaire.
Croix de Guerre, with three Palms and Star.
CITATIONS
Au G.Q.G., 15 aout> 191 5
Le Chef du Service Aeronautique cite a POr-
dre du3 e Groupe d'Escadrille de Bom-
bardement:
Norman Prince, Sergent Pilote a l'Esca-
drille V.B. 108
Citoyen americain, engage volontaire pour prince at pau. march, 1915
la duree de la guerre. Excellent pilote mili-
taire, qui a toujours fait preuve de la plus grande audace et de presence d'esprit; toujours
impatient a partir, a pris a de nombreuses expeditions de bombardement, particulierement
heureuses dans une region ou rartillerie ennemie, par laquelle son avion fut maintes fois
atteint, rendait la tache difficile.
(Signe) Barres
Medaille Militaire: 26 septembre, 1916 (J.O. du 3 novembre y 1916)
Prince, Norman, Adjudant a rEscadrille N. 124
Engage volontaire pour la duree de la guerre, a fait preuve en toutes circonstances, des
plus belles qualites de bravoure et d'audace, livrant journellement de multiples combats dans
les lignes allemandes; le 23 aout, 1916, a force un appareil ennemi a atterriret a abattu un
deuxieme le 9. Deja blesse et cite a rOrdre.
Legion d'Honneur (Chevalier): Au G.Q.G., le 30 novembre, 1916
Prince, Norman, M 1 * 939, Adjudant Pilote a PEscadrille N. 124
En escadrille depuis dix-neuf mois, s'est signale par une bravoure et un devouement hors
de pair dans Texecution de nombreuses expeditions de bombardement et de chasse. A ete tres
grievement blesse le 12 octobre, 191 6, apres avoir abattu un avion allemand. Deja Medaille
Militaire.
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NORMAN PRINCE
BEFORE the war, Norman Prince had spent many pleasant hunting-
seasons at Pau, where he made friends among the French and learned
to speak the language fluently. When war broke out in 1914 it was
natural that his thoughts should turn to France, the country he had grown to
love and admire almost as his own. He might have gone overseas as an
ambulance driver or to enlist in the infantry, but — like many other horse-
men and polo-players — he had become interested in flying, and it occurred
to him that if he became a pilot before offering his services to France, he
might be received as a member of the Flying Corps — a possibility which
appealed to all his instincts as a sportsman. November found him, in com-
pany with Frazier Curtis, at the Burgess flying school at Marblehead, Mas-
sachusetts, learning to pilot hydro-aeroplanes, and it was here that he con-
ceived the idea of organizing a squadron of American volunteer airmen to
serve with the French. Curtis, also a sportsman and a sincere believer in
the Allied cause, gave the project his encouragement from the first, although
he confessed that before agreeing to offer his services to France, where he
felt that ignorance of the language might prove a serious handicap, he
planned to attempt enlistment in the British Royal Naval Air Service.
On January 20, 1915, Prince sailed for France on the Rochambeau, and on
March 4 he signed his enlistment papers and was sent to be trained at Pau.
During the five weeks that elapsed between his arrival in Paris and his en-
listment, he worked day and night to interest the French in his project. He
obtained the active cooperation of the de Lesseps brothers; he arranged for
introductions and interviews through the kind offices of Mr. Robert Chan-
ler; he laid his plans before Mr. Robert Bliss, who introduced Prince to M.
de Sillac. His enthusiasm and energy were irresistible; before his departure
for Pau he had fairly launched the movement which resulted in the forma-
tion of the Escadrille Americaine.
Prince was not a man to linger in the schools. On May 1 he was breveted
and was soon at the Front, piloting a Voisin with the Escadrille V.B. 108,
where his exploits and adventures are too well known to need description
here. In the autumn he was transferred to the Squadron V.B. 113 equipped
with Voisin-Cannon planes — an innovation of which great things were ex-
pected. But the life of comparative inactivity irritated Prince, who had the
restless and aggressive temperament of a genuine pilote de chasse. On Octo-
ber 30, 1915, he wrote to M. de Sillac: "The squadron with which I am at
present is en repos. I dislike to stay in such a situation and would prefer to
be a member of a unit more active than the Escadrille of Avions-Canons,
which works rarely except during attacks."
In December, 191 5, Prince was given leave, with Cowdin and Thaw, to
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NORMAN PRINCE
spend three weeks in the United States — a visit which aroused a vast
amount of public interest. All three were sons of families well known at
home, and there was a wide appeal in the thought of these young men in
French uniform, all of whom had seen action on the Western Front and
who were members of a branch of the service which still attracted a cer-
tain romantic interest. The newspapers gave entire columns to the subject,
and when Germany protested that the visiting pilots should be interned,
the question was discussed from one end of the country to the other.
On his return to France, Prince was sent to the R.G.A., at Le Bourget, for
perfectionment on Nieuport, and on April 20, 1916, he reached the Front
again — this time as a fighcing
pilot of the newly formed Esca-
drille Americaine, the realiza-
tion of his old dream. His career
with the Squadron — as bril-
liant as it was brief — has been
described so fully in a score of
magazine articles and books
that nothing remains to be said.
Like Rockwell and Chapman,
he was a pilot of the first order,
a real combatant, who would
have gone far had he been
spared. The Croix de Guerre, the
Medaille Militaire, and the Le-
gion d'Honneur (awarded him
as he lay dying of his wounds) norman prince
are evidence of the esteem in
which his French chiefs held him. He made his last sortie on October 12,
1916, the day of the great raid on the Mauser Works at Oberndorf. Luf-
bery, de Laage, Masson, and Prince had accompanied the bombers as far
as their fuel capacity permitted, and returned to a friendly aerodrome to
fill their tanks, taking the air once more to protect the returning raiders.
Darkness was drawing on; the bombers were straggling home, harried by de-
termined and aggressive Fokkers. Prince shot down one of the enemy, and
when the last of the Allied machines had crossed the lines and it was nearly
dark, he made for the field at Corcieux, in the Vosges. Let his friend
McConnell tell the rest of the story :
"He spiraled down through the night air and skimmed rapidly over the
trees bordering the field. In the dark he did not see a high-tension electric
cable that was stretched just above the tree-tops. The landing-gear of his
aeroplane struck it. The machine snapped forward on its nose. It turned over
and over. The belt holding Prince broke and he was thrown far frcm the
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NORMAN PRINCE
wrecked plane. Both of his legs were broken and he naturally suffered in-
ternal injuries. In spite of the terrific shock and his intense pain Prince did
not lose consciousness. He even kept his presence of mind and gave orders to
the men who had run to pick him up. Hearing the hum of a motor and realiz-
ing that a machine was in the air, Prince told them to light gasoline fires on
the field. 'You don't want another fellow to come down and break himself
up the way I've done,' he said. Lufbery went with him to the hospital in
Gerardmer. As the ambulance rolled along Prince sang to keep up his spirits.
He spoke of getting well soon and returning to service. It was like Norman.
He was always energetic about his flying. . . . No one thought that Prince
GRAVE OF NORMAN PRINCE. LUXEUIL
was mortally injured, but next day he went into a coma. Captain Happe
. . . accompanied by our officers, hastened to Gerardmer. Lying unconscious
on his bed, Prince was named a second lieutenant and decorated with the
Legion of Honor. . . . He died on the 15th of October . . . was brought back
to Luxeuil and given a funeral similar to Rockwell's. It was hard to realize
that poor old Norman was gone. . . . He never let his own spirits drop and
was always on hand with encouragement for others. I do not think Prince
minded going. He wanted to do his part before being killed and he had more
than done it. Day after day he had freed the lines of Germans, making it im-
possible for them to do their work, and three of them he had shot to earth."
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SERVICE RECORD
David E. Putnam, Brookline, Massachusetts.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 31, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 10 to December 10, 191 7,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 17, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 94, December 12,
1917, to January 1, 1918.
Escadrille Spad (and M.S.P.) 156,
February 7 to June 1, 1918.
Escadrille Spad 38, June 1 to
June 14, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: June 8, 1918.
At the Front: CO. 134th Pursuit Squadron,
June 24 to September 13, 1918.
Killed in combat: September 13, 19 18, near
Saint-Mihiel.
Decorations:
Distinguished Service Cross.
Legion d'Honneur.
Medaille Militaire.
Croix de Guerre, with Palms.
CITATIONS
36* Division, £tat-Major. G.Q.G., le 10 fevrier, 1918
Le General Paquette, Commandant la 36 c Division d'Infanterie, cite a l'Ordre de la Divi-
sion: . . .
Le Caporal Putnam, David, de TEscadrille M.S.P. 156
£tant en patrouille de chasse, a attaque un groupe d'avions ennemis et a abattu un de ces
appareils.
IV C Armee, £tat-Major. Le 21 fevrier, 1918
Le General Commandant la IV e Armee cite a TOrdre de TArmee: . . .
Caporal de la Legion fitrangere Putnam, David, M le 12214, de TEscadrille M.S.P. 156
Etant en patrouille le 19 Janvier, 1918, a livre un combat tres vif a deux biplaces ennemis,
les a poursuivis jusqu'a tres faible altitude dans leurs lignes, abattant Tun d'entre eux qui
est tombe en flammes.
Le General Commandant la lV e Armee
Gouraud
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DAVID E. PUTNAM
IV e Armee, Aeronautique. 2\ mars, 191 8
Citation a VOrdre de V Armee:
Sergent Putnam, David, du i cr Regiment de la Legion Etrangere, detache a
rEscadriiie M.S.P. 156
Pilote adroit et audacieux, recherche toutes les occasions de combattre. A attaque deux
avions ennemis et a abattu Tun d'eux en vue de nos tranchees.
Citation a VOrdre de V Armee: 20 }uin, 191 8
Putnam, David, M k 122 14, Sergent a i cr Regiment de la Legion Etrangere,
detache a rEscadriiie M.S.P. 156
Pilote de chasse de tout premier ordre. Attaquant une patrouille de dix monoplaces en-
nemis, a abattu Tun d'eux pendant que quatre autres tombait desempares et a mis en fuite
le reste de la patrouille ennemie (septieme victoire).
Citation Medaille Militaire :
Putnam, David, Pilote Aviateur, du i cr Regiment de la Legion Etrangere
Par son entrain, son adresse, son mepris du danger, se revele comme un pilote de tout pre-
mier ordre. Attaquant recemment une patrouille de neuf avions ennemis, a abattu Tun d'eux.
Le lendemain, au cours d'une mission de protection, a resohiment attaque une patrouille de
huit appareils et a abattu deux de ses a^versaires, remportant ainsi ses 5 C et 6 C victoires.
Trois citations.
i cr Lieutenant Putnam, David, Pilote a rEscadriiie Spa. 38
A ete nomme dans TOrdre de la Legion d'Honneur en Grade de Chevalier. Pilote ad-
mirable de devouement, d'une endurance, d'une volonte, et d'un courage exemplaire. En
escadrille, depuis 6 mois seulement, s'est de suite revele comme un pilote exceptionnel,
d'un adresse et d'une habilete hors de pair. Infatigable, recherchant toutes les occasions
de combattre, pousse la hardiesse jusqu'a la temerite, allant attaquer Tennemi jusqu'a
20 kilometres dans ses lignes. En moins d'un mois a abattu officiellement 6 avions ennemis,
portant ainsi a 9 le nombre de ses victoires. Deja quatre fois cite a TOrdre.
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DAVID E. PUTNAM
A MONG the Americans who have fought for France, there was no
LJL more inspiring figure than that of Dave Putnam. He was a splendid
X .A. type of young American, a keen sportsman, a loyal friend, a fervent
patriot. There is not a Lafayette man who is not better for having known
Putnam, whose splendid example was always before the eyes of his com-
rades. Even during the period of training we realized that here was a man
out of the ordinary, for his life held but one object: to get to the Front.
The only occasions on which we saw him gloomy or depressed were when
the weather prevented him from flying. His constant anxiety to complete
his training made him always the first to arrive at the field and the last to
leave it.
Putnam came to France in the spring of 1917 — a tall, athletic young-
ster of twenty, fresh from Harvard, where he was a student in his sopho-
more year. On May 3 1 he enlisted in the Lafayette Flying Corps and was
sent to Avord, where he took the slow Bleriot training. Breveted in Octo-
ber, 1 91 7, he made a brilliant record at Pau and arrived at the Front in the
Escadrille N. 156 on December 12. From the first he showed the qualities
which were to make him famous : the skill in piloting, the devotion to duty,
and the aggressiveness of a true fighting man. A comrade writes about him
at this period: "Our Sector was a very quiet one when we went out to the
156; German planes were scarce, and if we wanted to fight we had to go a
long way hunting behind the lines. This was especially forbidden by our
Commandant; you know how cautious the French are in giving young pilots
permission to do any chasse litre. When we were fortunate enough to get this
permission you could rely on Putnam to stretch the privilege to the limit. I
speak from experience, remembering that it was he who led me into my first
scrap, when we were twenty-five kilometers in German territory. ,,
In the spring of 191 8, the Squadron exchanged their Nieuports for the tiny
Morane Parasols — smallest, fastest, and trickiest of all chasse planes. In
piloting this little hornet, Putnam's art reached a perfection which aston-
ished even his veteran comrades. On one occasion, while hunting alone over
the lines, Putnam attacked eighteen German single-seaters, shot down the
leader, and got clean away! His formidable little plane, swift as a hawk, al-
most invisible, and piloted by a man to whom the appearance of a Black
Cross was a signal for immediate combat, became the terror of the local
Boches.
Early in the summer, Putnam was transferred to the Escadrille Spad 38,
commanded by Madon, one of France's greatest fighting pilots. It was here
that the American attained the summit of his skill, for Madon took a great
liking to him and showed him all the tricks which spell success in the air. As
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DAVID E. PUTNAM
he developed a style of his own, it became evident that Putnam would make
one of the really great fighting flyers, for in addition to the headlong aggres-
siveness which was his leading characteristic, he had wonderful eyes, could
shoot straight, and acquired rare skill in combat maneuvers.
His greatest feat was performed on June 5, above the Second Battle of the
Marne, when he shot down five Germans in five minutes. Owing to the diffi-
culty of French confirmations, only one of these Germans was counted of-
ficially, but there can be no doubt about the other four, as several eye-wit-
nesses saw them go down.
On June 24, Putnam, now a First Lieutenant in the United States Air
Service, was given command of the 134th Pursuit Squadron, and from then
up to the time of his death, he brought down five official enemy planes as
well as several others, too far within the German lines to be confirmed. His
conduct of the Squadron won the warmest praise of his superiors, and yet,
unlike many Squadron Commanders, his additional duties were never al-
lowed to diminish the number of his flights or combats.
The end came on September 13, when Putnam and another pilot were at-
tacked by eight Fokkers. Putnam shot down one enemy, but as he attacked,
a brace of Germans got into position behind him and he fell mortally
wounded, probably dead before he reached the earth. It was a splendid death
in the midst of combat, certainly the ending he would have chosen for him-
self, but the loss was a bitter one to every member of the Lafayette Flying
Corps.
Putnam was credited with thirteen official victories, but he had certainly
shot down an equal number of German planes which fell too far within their
lines to be confirmed; that was the penalty for his offensive spirit. For his
services with the French, he was decorated with the Croix de Guerre, the
Medaille Militaire y and the Legion d 9 Honneur, and after his transfer to the
American army, General Pershing conferred upon him the D.S.C., as well as
proposing him for the Congressional Medal of Honor.
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SERVICE RECORD
Rufus R. Rand, Jr., Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Previous Service: Norton-Harjes Ambulance,
1917.
Service in French Aviation:
Date 0} enlistment: July 26, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: July 28 to December 4, 1917,
Avord, Tours, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 14, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 158, December 6,
19 1 7, to Armistice.
Final Rank: Adjudant.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm and Star.
CITATIONS
13 scptembre, 1918
III e Armee, £tat-Major.
Le General Commandant la 3 e Armee cite
a TOrdre du 34 e Corps d* Armee:
Le Sergent Rand, Rufus Randall, du i cr
Regiment Etranger, Pilote a l'Escadrille
Spa. 158, M k 12355
Pilote de chasse. Le 21 aout, 191 8, au cours
d'une patrouille a attaque un biplace ennemi
qu'il a abattu en flammes.
(Signf) Humbert
III e Armee, £tat-Major. gjuillet, 191 8
Le General Commandant la 3 C Armee cite a TOrdre de l'Armee:
Le Sergent Rand, Rufus Randall, du i er Regiment Etranger, Pilote americain
a l'Escadrille Spa. 158
Pilote americain. Le 6 juin, 1918, a probablement abattu un avion allemand qui n'a pu
etre homologue a cause de l'eloignement dans les lignes. Le 9 juin, au cours d'une lutte inegale
de deux avions francais contre neuf ennemis, a fait preuve d'une remarquable sang-froid
en degageant son chef de patrouille quoiqu'il soit lui-meme poursuivi par plusieurs avions
ennemis. A ramene son appareil crible de balles.
(Signe) Humbert
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RUFUS R. RAND, Jr.
RAND is an example of the scientific aviator; he knows all about
motors, all about rigging, and all about aerodynamics — the won-
^ derful thing is that he still flies. At the Front he not only flew, but
knocked down his share of Germans with the same scientific precision he
used in tuning up a motor. Rand is one of the few Americans who have pi-
loted the small Morane monocoque over the lines, and he was convinced that
with a few trifling alterations the Morane would be the best of chasse ma-
chines. He has an endearing weakness for explication des coups, and many an
THE LITTLE MORANE (DAVID GUY)
hour of leave has been spent in the old Crillon while Rufe went into details
of these same trifling alterations.
Rand has had some of the hardest fights and narrowest escapes that a man
can go through and survive. Once his nourrice, the small auxiliary gasoline
tank in the upper wing, was pierced by a stream of bullets, some of which
missed the pilot's head by a hair's-breadth — only remarkable luck saved
the Spad from being set afire. One had only to look at his machine, with bits
of fabric plastered over the wings and fuselage, to know that he fought at
close quarters. The French recognized his fine qualities of courage and skill,
cited him twice in army orders, and promoted him to the rank of Adjudant.
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SERVICE RECORD
John F. Randall, Mcridcn, Connecticut.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1917.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 20, 1917.
Aviation Schools: July 28 to December 8, 1917,
Avord, Tours, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 1, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 158, December 11,
1917, to April 18, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: March 23,
1918.
At the Front: 103d Pursuit Squadron, June 6
to June 14, 1918.
Injured in line of duty: June 14, 19 18.
On duty at American A.I.C., Issoudun, October
13, 191 8, to Armistice.
JOHN F. RANDALL
progress through the schools was uneventful and his
ellent, but shortly after his arrival at the Front he became
of a series of misfortunes calculated to destroy one's faith
in the ultimate goodness of Providence. On December 11, 1917, he was sent
to the Escadrille Spad 158. After a brief period of service with this unit, he
was severely scalded when a large vat of boiling water turned over on him,
and was forced to undergo a long and painful treatment in hospital. In March,
1 91 8, while still a convalescent, he transferred to the American army with
the rank of First Lieutenant, and after serving for a time as a ferry pilot, was
sent out to the 103d Pursuit Squadron, then stationed at Dunkirk. Over-
joyed to be again on the Front, Randall's bad luck still followed him. Eight
days after his arrival at Dunkirk he was severely injured in a landing acci-
dent — one leg crushed, with a dangerous fracture of the bone. Owing to the
seriousness of the injury, he was sent to England for convalescence, and up
to the time of the Armistice he had not recovered sufficiently to be able to fly.
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SERVICE RECORD
Robert E. Read, Franklin, Pennsylvania.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1917.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 13, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 23, 1917, to January 20, 1918, Avord, Pau, Cazeaux, G.D.E.
Breveted: November 18, 19 17 (Caudron).
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Naval Aviation:
Commissioned Ensign: January 24, 1918.
Promoted Lieutenant (Junior Grade).
At the Front: U.S. Naval Air Station, Dunkirk, as pilot and later as commanding officer.
Decorations:
Legion (THonneur.
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
ROBERT E. READ
CUSHMAN, DOCK, AND READ
avord, july. 1917 excellence
[ 4° 2 1
was among the last of
Bleriot students at Avord.
rveted on November 18,
191 7, he did well at the schools of Pau
and Cazeaux, and was taken over as
an Ensign in the United States Naval
Air Service before he had been as-
signed to a squadron at the Front.
Sent to Dunkirk as a member of one
of the squadrons using that port as a
base, Read was soon promoted to a
lieutenancy and made Commanding
Officer of the Station. Before the war
he had been in the Naval Reserve and
acquired a lasting taste for nautical
life, so his superiors had no difficulty
in recognizing the jolly tar under the
aviator's uniform. As commander of
an important station, Read enjoyed
all the perquisites of his high office;
the phonograph, the cinema, the
large touring-car, and the specially
imported African chef of surpassing
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SERVICE RECORD
Leonard M. Reno, Chicago, Illinois.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: March 20, 19 17.
Aviation Schools: March 23 to July 20, 19 1 7,
Avoid, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: May 10, 191 7 (Blcriot).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 103, July 23 to
September 18, 19 17.
Escadrille Breguet 134, June 4 to
July 18, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Naval Aviation:
Commissioned Ensign: July 18, 1918.
At the Front: U.S. Naval Air Station, Porto
Corsini, Italy, October, 1918.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATION
Citation a VOrdre de VArmee:
Excellent pilote plein d'entrain et tres
ardent. Toujours volontaire pour toutes les
missions qu'il ne cesse d'accomplir d'une
maniere parfaite. Demande constamment a
etre employe et donne a tous Texemple du
courage, du sang-froid, et de Tenergie.
Vient d'abattre le 18 juillet, 1918, un avion ennemi au cours d'un combat tres dur contre
des forces superieures au retour d'un bombardement.
LEONARD M. RENO
LEONARD RENO was one of six Lafayette pilots who during 1917-18
belonged to Spad 103, the escadrille of Fonck. After two months at
-*J the Front he was injured in a fall in Belgium when his machine was
disabled by anti-aircraft fire. After undergoing two operations at a hospital
at Dunkirk he went to America on convalescent leave, and upon his return
to France in the spring of 191 8, he was transferred from chasse to day bom-
bardment. His second period of service at the Front was with the French
Squadron Breguet 134. Reno took part in the heavy aerial battles in the vi-
cinity of Montdidier and Noyon. The importance of day bombing was then
fully recognized, and all of the squadrons detailed for this service were heav-
ily engaged. During June and the early part of July Breguet 134 was operat-
ing in the Montdidier-Noyon Sector. When the fighting had quieted down
there, it was ssnt to the Marne in anticipation of the attack on Chateau-
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LEONARD M. RENO
Thierry. It was at this time that Reno had some of the most exciting adven-
tures of his career as an airman. While the Germans were crossing the Marne,
the French day bombers practically lived in their machines. They took the
air time after time, returning to the aerodrome only long enough for addi-
tional loads of bombs and fuel.
Reno brought down a German on his last day of service with the French.
He was to go to Paris on July 18, 191 8, to receive his commission as Ensign
in the United States Naval Air Service. On the morning of that day he made
a farewell raid with his squadron upon Oulchy-le-Chateau, then twenty kilo-
meters within the enemy lines. The objective was bombed, and upon the re-
turn journey the formation had to fight their way through a large patrol of
enemy chasse planes. There were but four French Breguets and two of these
were shot down, one in flames and the other en vrills, leaving only Reno and
his Captain plugging away homeward for dear life. It was a wild race, with
each Breguet maneuvering desperately against a tenacious little swarm of
Albatross. Just before reaching the French lines Reno's observer pounded
him on the shoulder indicating a German diving to attack from three quar-
ters front, the blind spot. He pulled up perpendicularly with the one thought
of getting his motor in line with the enemy's fire. The German did the same
thing in order to avoid collision, making an excellent target at close range. A
burst of fire from squarely underneath brought him down. Reno's observer
pounded him on the back with joy, and performed absurd pantomimes all
the way to the ground indicative of the reception they would receive at the
aerodrome. They were unable to reach their own field, however, because of
their damaged machine. Both tires had been punctured by bullets; the wings
were in tatters; five clean holes had been made through the propeller without
otherwise damaging it, and one control wire was shot away.
When Reno transferred to the Naval Air Service he had to take the com-
plete ground-school course at Moutchic-Lacanau, where he learned to fly
all boats used by the United States Navy. He was then sent to Italy, where
he completed another course in acrobacy, this time on Italian pursuit boats.
He arrived at the United States Naval Air Station at Porto Corsini in time
to make only one offensive patrol before the Austrian armistice.
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SERVICE RECORD
Walter D. Rheno, Vineyard Haven, Massa-
chusetts.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: December 24, 1916.
Aviation Schools: January 31 to July 16, 191 7,
Buc, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: May 10, 191 7 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 80, July 18 to
September 15, 1917.
Returned to America, October 19, 19 17.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Died of pneumonia in Paris, October 10, 191 8.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre^ with two Palms.
CITATIONS
Le 16 septembre, 191 7
Lc General Commandant la II e Armee cite a
TOrdre de 1 'Armee:
Le Caporal Rheno, Walter Davis,
Pilote a rEscadrille N. 80
Tres bon pilote americain; montre de
grandes qualites d'audace et d'entrain; le
18 aout a abattu un biplace ennemi qui s'est
ecrase dans ses lignes.
He Armee. 13 octobre, 191 7
Citation a VOrdre de V Armee:
Le Caporal Rheno, Walter D., Pilote a rEscadrille N. 80
Excellent pilote americain, beaucoup d'entrain et d'audace. Nombreux combats. Le 6
septembre, 191 7, a attaque un avion ennemi loin dans les lignes allemands et l'abattu.
(Signe) Guillaumat
WALTER D. RHENO
WALTER RHENO did good work at the Front during his two
months of service there. On August 18, 191 7, he and a French Lieu-
tenant belonging to his squadron brought down a two-seater Al-
batross, and on September 6, he alone shot down a monoplace. On October
17, 1917, he was granted a three weeks permission to go to America, and while
at home he was asked to transfer to the United States Air Service. For some
reason the transfer did not take place, and after waiting nearly a year for
his commission, he returned to France in October, 191 8, hoping to be reas-
signed to duty in French Aviation. His desire was not to be realized, however.
He became ill with pneumonia a few days after his arrival in Paris, and died
in an American hospital there on October 10, 191 8.
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SERVICE RECORD
Kiffin Yates Rockwell, Asheville, North
Carolina.
Previous Service: Foreign Legion (Infantry),
August 21, 19 14, to September 1, 19 15 (wounded
while serving with the Legion).
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: September 2, 1915.
Aviation Schools: September 2, 191 5, to April 16,
1916, Avord, Pau, R.G.A.
Breveted: October 22, 191 5 (Maurice Farman).
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette, April 20 to
September 23, 19 16.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Wounded in combat: May 24, 19 16.
Killed in combat: September 23, 1 9 16 (near Ro-
dern, Alsace).
Decorations:
Medaille Militaire.
Croix de Guerre, with four Palms.
CITATIONS
Paris t le 7 juillet, 19 16
Medaille Militaire:
Rockwell, Kiffin Yates, M te 34805,
Caporal a l'Escadrille N. 124
Engage pour la duree de la guerre, a ete blesse une premiere fois le 9 mai, 191 5, au cours
d'une charge a la baionnette. Passe dans l'Aviation, s'est montre pilote adroit et courageux.
Le 18 mai, 1916, a attaque et descendu un avion allemand. Le 24 mai n'a pas hesite a livrer
a plusieurs appareils ennemis un combat au cours duquel il a ete atteint d'une grave blessure
a la face.
Les promotions et nominations ci-dessus comportent l'attribution de la Croix de Guerre
avec Palme. /c . , x n
(Stgne) Roques
Citation a VOrdre de VArmee: aout, 19 16
Rockwell, Kiffin Yates, Pilote a l'Escadrille 124
Engage pour la duree de la guerre. Entre dans l'aviation de chasse, s'y est classe immediate-
men t comme pilote de tout premier ordre, d'une audace et d'une bravoure admirables. N 'he-
site jamais a attaquer l'ennemi quelque soit le nombre des adversaires qu'il rencontre, l'obli-
geant le plus souvent, par sa maitrise, son mordant, a abandonner la lutte. A abattu deux
avions ennemis. A rendu le plus grands services a l'aviation de chasse de l'armee en se de-
pensant pendant quatre mois sans compter devant Verdun.
Citation a VOrdre de VArmee:
Rockwell, Kiffin Yates
Pilote americain qui n'a cesse de faire l'admiration de ses camarades par son sang-froid,
son courage, et son audace. A ete tue au cours d'un combat aerien le 23 septembre, 1916.
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KIFFIN YATES ROCKWELL
IT is probable that Kiffin Rockwell was the first American to offer his
services to France against the German aggressors, for on August 3, 1914,
he wrote to the French Consul at New Orleans :
"I desire to offer my services to the French Government in case of actual
warfare between France and Germany, and wish to know whether I can re-
port to you at New Orleans and go over with the French reservists ... or
must go to France before enlisting. I am twenty-one years old and have had
military training at the Virginia Military Institute. I am very anxious to see
military service, and had rather fight under the French Flag than any other,
as I greatly admire your Nation. If my services can be used by your Coun-
try, I will bring my brother, who also desires to fight under the French
Flag."
Rockwell was a born soldier. Both his grandfathers, Captain Henry Rock-
well, of North Carolina, and Major Enoch Shaw Ayres, of South Carolina,
were officers of the Confederate Army, and a more remote ancestor was a
captain on General Washington's staff during the Revolution. His nature was
made up of the simple virtues of a mediaeval warrior — pride amounting al-
most to sensitiveness, energy, determination, dauntless courage, and un-
bounded faith in the justice of his cause. Such men are rare and unmistakable
when met; they stand a little aloof from the rest of the world and radiate a
sense of great things — an atmosphere which shames the cynic and stills the
voice of the doubter. It is not difficult to imagine the train of reasoning
which led him to enlist: a great war was about to overwhelm Europe; France
was preparing to defend her frontiers and republican ideals against an ag-
gression which menaced all human liberty; one's course was clear — one
must enlist to fight for France. And the flame of his idealism never for an in-
stant flickered. Long afterward, when he had come to know all the squalor
and disillusion of war, he wrote to his mother: "If I die, you will know that I
died as every man should — in fighting for the right. I do not consider that I
am fighting for France alone, but for the cause of humanity, the most noble
of all causes."
In August, 1914, accompanied by his brother Paul, Rockwell crossed to
France and enlisted in the Foreign Legion. From the beginning, his record of
service was a splendid one — months of dreary trench life with the infantry
did nothing to diminish his enthusiasm or fighting spirit. On May 9, 1915,
when the Legion stormed La Targette, he was severely wounded in the thigh,
and transferred to the Aviation after a long period of convalescence. In the
autumn, Victor Chapman wrote from Avord: "I find a compatriot I am
proud to own . . . called Rockwell. He got his transfer about a month ago
from the legion. He was wounded on the 9th of May, like Kisling; in fact
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KIFFIN YATES ROCKWELL
half of the Deuxieme de Marche were wounded that day, not counting the
killed and missing. He gives the best account I have heard. Having charged
with the Third Battalion and being wounded in the leg in the last bouck, he
crawled back across the entire field in the afternoon. At this moment I have
mixed feelings of pride, envy, and sorrow, for he has just received a postal
from a friend who has returned to the regiment. They were given a banner
and three days ago were up where the big advance took place. On account of
their reputation and the general understanding that they were reserved for
attack, the regiment must have been in the very thick of it and has enormous
losses. . . . Rockwell is chafing because he changed too soon. ' There is noth-
ing like it' (he says); 'you float across the field, you drop, you rise again . . .
the sac, the 325 extra rounds, the gun — have no weight.'"
On the Alsatian Front (May 18, 1916) Kiffin Rockwell shot down the first
enemy plane credited to the Escadrille Lafayette. The combat was charac-
teristic of the man and his method of attack. He told of it in a letter to his
brother Paul: "This morning I went out over the lines to make a little tour.
I was somewhat the other side of our lines when my motor began to miss a
bit, and I turned back. Just as I started ... I saw a Boche machine about
seven hundred meters under me and a little inside our lines. I reduced my
motor and dove on him; he saw me at the same time and began to dive to-
ward home. It was a machine with a pilot and a machine-gunner, carrying
two rapid-fire guns, one facing the front, and one facing the rear, turning on
a pivot so that it could be fired in any direction. The gunner immediately
opened fire on me and my machine was hit, but I did n't pay any attention
to that and kept going straight for him until I got within twenty-five or
thirty meters of his machine. Then, just as I was afraid of running into him,
I fired four shots, and swerved my machine to the right to avoid having a
collision. ... I saw the gunner fall back dead on the pilot, his machine gun
fall from its position and point straight up in the air, and the pilot fall to one
side of the machine as if he too were done for. The machine fell off to one side
— then dove vertically toward the ground with a lot of smoke coming from
the rear. I circled around, and three or four minutes later saw smoke coming
up from the ground, just behind the German trenches." It was his first com-
bat — the first time he had encountered an enemy machine in the air — the
first time he had fired his gun at a German plane! And with four shots (after-
wards verified by the squadron armorer) he killed both pilot and observer,
and sent the machine down in flames !
In discussing men, the French used a phrase which described admirably a
keen and bitter fighter — 77 en veut, il fait la guerre. Rockwell had come to
France to fight; not to loaf, "swing the lead," or pose as a hero — and when
he went over the lines it was la guerre a outrance. He shot down several Ger-
mans so far in their own lines that even the combats were invisible to friendly
observers. On the Verdun Front, in July, 1916, he took part in forty offi-
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KIFFIN YATES ROCKWELL
daily reported combats; in August he fought thirty-four aerial duels.
Wounded in the face by an explosive bullet, he refused Captain Thenault's
offer to send him to a hospital for treatment, and after twenty-four hours in
Paris to reassure his brother, he hurried to the Front to fight and fly again.
His letters to Paul Rockwell give us glimpses of an extraordinary driving
energy and determination:
"I had thought beforehand that yesterday and to-day I would try my
damnedest to kill one or two Germans for the boys [comrades in the Legion]
who got it this time last year — but I had no luck. Am tired out now; have
been out four different times to-day,
all the time going up and down. Once
I dropped straight down from 4000
meters to 1800 on a Boche, but he
got away. It tires one a lot — the
change in heights and the maneuver-
ing.
The day after Victor Chapman's
death he wrote: "He and I had
roomed together and flown together
a great deal, and I had grown very
fond of him. I am afraid it is going
to rain to-morrow, but if not, Prince
and I are going to fly about ten hours
and will do our best to kill one or two
Germans for Victor."
Rockwell's brief and splendid life
was ended by the most glorious of
deaths — struck down in the heat of
combat, twelve thousand feet above
the earth. Flying with Lufbery over
the Vosges, on the 23d of September,
1916, Rockwell became separated
from his companion, and attacked
a German two-seater well inside the Rockwells grave
French lines. In his daring and head-
long fashion, he plunged straight at the enemy, paying no attention to a
stream of bullets from the observer. He did not open fire until at such close
quarters that watchers on the ground thought a collision inevitable — his
gun stammered faintly, and the Nieuport turned its nose down, losing one
wing as it hurtled toward the earth. A great wound, where an explosive
bullet had passed through his chest at the base of the throat, must have
caused instant death. His loss was an irreparable one to the Escadrille
Lafayette — for he was a rare combat pilot, and his chivalrous and romantic
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KIFFIN YATES ROCKWELL
example brought out the finest qualities of his companions. His funeral was
worthy of his life and death. Fifty English pilots and eight hundred R.F.C.
mechanics, a regiment of French Territorials, a battalion of Colonials, and
hundreds of French pilots and mechanics, marched behind his bier. At the
grave, Captain Thenault said: "When Rockwell was in the air, no German
passed . . . and he was in the air most of the time. . . . The best and brav-
est of us all is no more."
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SERVICE RECORD
Robert Lockerbie Rockwell, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Previous Service: Interne Anglo- American Hos-
pital and Hopital Auxiliaire (Saint-Valery-cn-
Caux), February 29, 1915, to February 3, 1916.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: February 7, 1 9 16.
Amotion Schools: February 15 to September 15,
1916, Buc, Cazeaux, Pau,
G.D.E.
Breveted: May 20, 1916 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadiille Lafayette, September
17, 1916, to February 18, 1918.
Final Rank: Adjudant.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Captain: January 31, 191 8.
At the Front: 103d Pursuit Squadron, February
18, 19 1 8, to Armistice (as Flight
Commander and Commanding
Officer).
Decorations:
Legion d'Honneur.
Croix de Guerre, with two Palms.
CITATIONS
VI C Armee, £tat-Major. 29 octobre, 191 7
Citation a VOrdre de V Armee:
Rockwell, Robert, Sergent i cr Regiment fitranger, Pilote a l'Escadrille N. 124
Citoyen americain engage dans l'Aeronautique. Pilote de chasse plein d'allant et d'entrain.
A livre de nombreux combats.
Le 6 mai, 191 7, a eu son avion gravement endommage au cours d'un combat contre deux
monoplaces ennemis.
Le 24 septembre, dans une rencontre avec une patrouille ennemie bien superieure en nombre,
a contraint Tun de ses adversaires a atterrir desempare dans ses lignes.
(Signe) Maistre
Grand Quartier General des Arm£es Francaises
de l'Est, £tat-Major. Le 17 mai, 1919
Apres approbation du General Commandant en Chef les Forces Expeditionnaires Americaines
en France, le Marechal Commandant en Chef les Armees Francaises de TEst cite a
TOrdre de rArmee:
Capitaine Rockwell, Robert L.
Citoyen americain engage des le debut de la guerre dans la Legion Etrangere. S'est dis-
tingue dans toutes les operations auxquelles il a pris part, a fait preuve des plus belles
qualites comme pilote a TEscadrille Lafayette.
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ROBERT LOCKERBIE ROCKWELL
Par decret du President de la Republique en date du 9 avril, 1919, le Capitaine Rockwell
a ete promu Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur.
Cette promotion a ete fait avec le motif de ce citation.
ROBERT LOCKERBIE ROCKWELL
WHEN Rockwell offered his services to French Aviation, he carried
with him to the recruiting bureau a letter from his old Medecin Chef
of Hopital Auxiliare 3 Bis. It was a masterpiece of eulogy which
closed as follows:
"My dear Rockwell, excellent driver of automobiles whose skillful mas-
tery of motors I have so often had occasion to admire; splendid pilote-avia-
teur — accustomed as you are to the dangers of aerial navigation, I have no
doubt that you will render to my Country the greatest and most fruitful
services. "
Rockwell presented the letter when asked for his credentials at the re-
cruiting office in Paris, modestly admitted his proficiency as a pilot, and was
sent at once to Pau. There he worked hard to perfect himself, so that, in so
far as is known, no reference was ever made to the too flattering peroration in
his letter of recommendation. It may be that only M. de Sillac and Dr. Gros
knew of it, but they of course were both warm friends of all the volunteers
and did everything possible to further their interests.
Rockwell received some of the most fearful drubbings at the hands of
German patrols which have been experienced by any pilot in the Lafayette
Flying Corps. Memorable among these is one of the 6th of May, 1917, when
he was making a solitary hunt. He met an enemy formation of seven single-
seaters coming into the sun, and attacked the rear man, counting upon his
advantage of position to offset the odds in numbers. The other six maneu-
vered into position and pounced upon him en masse. He escaped by some
freak of chance, and landed at the aerodrome, half an hour later, with tires
punctured, his aileron controls more than half shot away, the braces of his
landing-gear badly holed, and his wings pierced in many places.
During another combat his motor failed him at a critical moment, and he
had to dive through a large enemy flight of monoplaces. His oil radiator
burst during the plunge, drenching him with thick castor oil, coating his
wind-shield, and so blinding him that he was completely at the mercy of the
pursuing Germans. He fell in a nose-dive for a long distance, and the enemy,
thinking him killed, gave up the pursuit. He pulled out of the vrille at 300
meters, and contour-chased back to the aerodrome.
Despite many really nerve-racking adventures of this kind, he kept his
grip upon himself through more than two years of service at the Front. He
spent a good deal of his leisure, answering in kind, letters from unknown
female correspondents in America. Many of these were from silly girls.
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ROBERT LOCKERBIE ROCKWELL
When a photograph was requested, he would send a shamefully idealized
portrait of himself, and then ignore further notes, letting his distant ad-
mirers pine away in hopeless longing as a punishment for their unwomanly
boldness.
Meanwhile, he carried on with his more necessary duty, and after the
Armistice, was made CO. of the 93d Pursuit Squadron. Accustomed as he
assuredly was, before the close of the war, to the dangers of aerial naviga-
tion, there is no doubt that he fully justified the confidence of his old Mede-
cin Chef.
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SERVICE RECORD
Marius Romain Rocle, New York City.
Previous Service: Foreign Legion (Infantry),
September 26, 1914, to June 5, 1916.
Wounded while with the Legion.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 5, 1916.
Aviation Schools: June 5, 1916, to January 28,
1917, Buc, Cazeaux, Pau.
At the Front: Escadrille N. 84.
Escadrille C. 46.
Escadrille Br. 213.
As observer and machine-gun-
ner, February 1, 19 17, to Feb-
ruary 19, 1918.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant: February' 19,
1918.
13th Aero Squadron, February 19 to March 15,
1918.
644th Aero Squadron. April 15 to Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star (Foreign Legion).
CITATION
Le 9 octobre, 191 5
Le Lieutenant Colonel Commandant le Regiment de Marche de la Legion Etrangere cite a
TOrdre du Regiment:
Marius Rocle, M 1c N° 33652
Excellent soldat courageux; le 28 septembre, 191 5, s'est offert spontanement pour faire
partie d'une patrouille envoyee sous le feu violent a la reconnaissance des tranchees allemandes.
(Signe) Cot
Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant le Regiment
de Marche de la Legion Etrangere
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MARIUS ROMAIN ROCLE
A FTER a year and eight months of service with the Foreign Legion,
/-\ during which time he was wounded, Marius Rocle was transferred
JL JL to Aviation and became one of the three members of the Lafayette
Corps who served at the Front as machine-gunner and observer. Throughout
his entire period of service in French Aviation he played a lone hand, in that
he was always the sole American member of his unit; but Rocle was always
persona grata with French pilots and was never at a loss for good compan-
ionship. He has served his guns in practically every type of French two-
seater avion and knows intimately all sectors of the Western Front. When
America entered the war he and Frederick Zinn were the only two Ameri-
cans with actual war experience as observers and machine-gunners. Zinn was
placed on duty at the American G.H.Q. Rocle was attached to the 13th and
later to the 644th Aero Squadron. At the time of the Armistice he had been
on active duty for more than four years. The record speaks for itself, and
is one of which any soldier may well be proud.
[415]
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SERVICE RECORD
William B. Rodgers, Jr., Pittsburgh, Pennsyl-
vania.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 25, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: June 29, 1917, to 1918, Avord,
Juvisy, Chateauroux, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 1, 1917 (Caudron).
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Naval Aviation:
Commissioned Ensign April 10, 19 18.
U.S. Naval Instructional Center, Moutchic-
Lacanau, April 10 to June 1, 1918.
U.S. Naval Air Station, Lake Bolsena, Italy,
June 1, 1918, to Armistice.
WILLIAM B. RODGERS, Jr.
IN the schools Rodgers and Walter Miller were inseparable friends. At
Juvisy, where they took the Caudron training, both earned the reputa-
tion of very daring pilots. From the G.D.E., Miller was sent to a Bre-
guet Squadron, where he remained until he met his death in July, and Rod-
gers was transferred to the Navy and assigned to the United States Naval
School at Moutchic-Lacanau, and later to the Naval Air Station at Lake
Bolsena, Italy, where his skill in handling flying-boats won him the place of
Chief Pilot. Had the fortunes of war permitted Rodgers to fight, as he had
hoped, on the Western Front, those who know him are convinced that he
would have made a name for himself in combat.
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CLIFFORD de ROODE
NO Lafayette man who came to Avord after March, 1917, will fail to
remember de Roode, our interpreter, drillmaster, and intermedi-
ary in dealings with the authorities.
His position was a difficult one, which carried with it enough unpopularity
to make it a matter of congratulation that he has survived the war. Some of
the harder and more suspicious among us even accused de Roode of suggest-
ing the abhorred drill, but this was never verified. At any rate, his was the
martial figure which paraded before our outraged ranks, ejaculating from
time to time that unpleasant word: Fixe!
One thing we owe to de Roode: he taught us (by example) to salute with
all the grace of a Saumur cavalryman and the precision of the Prussian
Guard. To watch him was a lesson in military etiquette. We stood in line, de
Roode in front. The Captain approached. De Roode snapped about-face —
a stiff bow from the waist, and up went the right arm, elbow high, and hand
bent back gracefully from the wrist. Then, "Bonjour, mon capitaine"
These displays of military ardor found favor in high places, favor which
expressed itself in providing de Roode with a gold-braided hat and the galons
of a Sous-Lieutenant. Encouraged by this signal honor, he learned to fly, in
intervals when military and diplomatic duties were not too pressing, and
finally appeared in all the glory of wings.
Note : Service record not available.
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SERVICE RECORD
Kenneth Albert Rotharmel, Miami, Florida.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1916-
17-
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 10, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: July 12, 1917, to February 24,
1918, Avord, Tours, Pau,
Cazeaux, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 23, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 112, February 25
to April 26, 191 8.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant: April 4, 1918.
At the Front: Attached to French Squadron
Spad 112, April 26, 1918, to
Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
CITATION
Grand Quartier General des
Armees Franchises de l'Est
Etat-Major. 26 Janvier, 1919
Le Marechal de France Commandant en Chef les Armees Franchises de l'Est cite a l'Ordre
du Regiment:
Lieutenant Rotharmel, Kenneth, de l'Armee Americaine au 16°* Groupe de Combat
Americain engage volontaire dans Paviation francaise en juillet, 191 7, n'a cesse d'etre
au groupe un exemple de volonte, de courage, et d'abnegation. Pilote adroit, a pris part a
de nombreux combats au cours des operations de mars-novembre, 1918.
Le Marechal Commandant en Chef les Armees Francaises de VEst
P£tain
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KENNETH ALBERT ROTHARMEL
ROTHARMEL was assigned to the Escadrille Spad 112 on February
17, 1918. His joyful antics, the evening of his departure from the
>- G.D.E., will long be legendary among the natives of that mournful
hamlet, Plessis-Belleville.
With the Spad 112 Rotharmel has had a broad experience of chasse work
in all of the important operations of 191 8. Like most of us, he had a certain
amount of hard luck, especially on one occasion when he found a German
two-seater lost far behind our lines. The observer was leaning forward in his
cockpit, doubtless poring over his map, and it looked like "cold meat" to
Rotharmel, in whose mind the unfortunate Rumplerwas already homologue.
Getting into beautiful position without being seen, he pulled trigger — the
guns stuttered for an instant and then hopelessly jammed!
During the latter part of the war, Rotharmel acted as liaison officer be-
tween the G.C. 16 and the American Air Service, and his duties were
performed with a zeal and efficiency which won hearty praise from the au-
thorities of both.
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SERVICE RECORD
Leland L. Rounds, New York City.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: October 1 6, 191 6.
Aviation Schools: October 16, 1916, to August I,
1917, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: May 8, 19 17 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 112, August 3 to
December 22, 191 7.
. Final Rank: SergenU
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: January 3,
1918.
Chief Pilot, American A.I.C., Tours, January 1
to May 1, 191 8.
On duty U.S. Aviation, H.Q. Paris, May 1, 1918,
to Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATION
Q.G. 2™ Arm£e. 13 octobre, 1917
Le General Commandant la 2™ Armee cite
a TOrdre de l'Armee:
Rounds, Leland Laselle, M ,c 11918, Cap-
oral des Troupes Aeronautiques, Pilote
a rEscadrille N. 112
Sujet americain, engage dans TAnnee Francaise le 16 octobre, 1916, s'est signale son ar-
rive en escadrille comme excellent pilote, energique et courageux. Le 5 septembre, a abattu
un avion ennemi.
LELAND L. ROUNDS
THE most interesting and the most satisfying of aerial experiences
came to Leland Rounds very soon after his arrival at the Front —
Verdun Sector — when he gained a victory in his first combat.
During his earlier patrols over the lines, he was mystified, as new pilots often
are, at the apparent, occasional uneventfulness of war-time flying. Nothing
happened — at least, nothing that he had been able to see. He was air-blind
for a week or two. Then came second sight and a terrific scare, both at the
same moment. What he first saw were the penciled lines of smoke stabbing
through the air from the muzzle of an enemy machine gun. In the excitement
of the moment, he fell into a vrillc. The German pilot was close on his tail
and, as luck would have it, passed him in a vertical dive without having
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LELAND L. ROUNDS
registered a hit. Coming out of his nose-spin, Rounds found the enemy single-
seater directly in front of him. He disclaims any credit for having bagged
him. All that he had to do, he said,
was to crook his index finger at his
Vickers. There was no chance for a
miss. However that may be, he shot
down the enemy plane and its de-
struction was immediately confirmed
from infantry observation posts.
Another adventure, when his Spad
caught fire at 3500 meters, is perhaps
equally interesting to him in retro-
spect; for, strange though it seems,
he lived to have a retrospect of that
terrifying experience. He landed
somehow, in a marsh near Verdun,
in a sea of cool, delicious, wet mud,
and in one sense was none the worse
for the bath.
During all his flying experience
Rounds had constantly to fight
against attacks of faintness when
above 3500 meters. As a great deal
of pursuit work takes place above
that altitude, these attacks came
quite often. Everything went black
before his eyes, and once he fainted, rounds and his mechano
regaining consciousness just in time
to prevent a crash. After his transfer to the United States Air Service,
he was sent to the American Aviation School at Tours, where he guided
many young birdmen through the period of their solo flights. He called
it an "embusque job." Perhaps he should have remained at the Front, fly-
ing and fainting and recovering consciousness just before splashing on the
ruins of some shell-wrecked village. Perhaps, in the end, he might have died
for France, an heroic, but not always a useful sacrifice. The American Air
Force in France was the gainer because he was denied this privilege.
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SERVICE RECORD
Lawrence Rumsey, Buffalo, New York.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 191 5.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: September 9, 1915.
Aviation Schools: September 11, 191 5, to June
1, 1916, Pau, Avord, G.D.E.
Breveted: February 2, 1916 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette, June 4 to
November 25, 1916.
Final Rank: Sergent.
LAWRENCE RUMSEY
IAWRENCE RUMSEY, one of the earlier members of the Escadrille
Lafayette, was prevented by ill health from taking any very active
-* part in patrol work at the Front. He spent a good deal of time in
hospital and was finally released from French Aviation as physically unfit
for further service.
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SERVICE RECORD
Harold Young Saxon, Washington, D.C.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enliitment: June 10, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 21, 1917, to January 18.
1918, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: November 14, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 31, January 21 to
June 17, 1918.
Escadrille Spad 12, June 17, 1918,
to Armistice.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with two Palms.
CITATION
Q.G. t le 4 septembre, 191 8
V c Armee, £tat-Major.
Le General Commandant la V c Armee cite
a TOrdre de TArmee:
Saxon, Harold, Sergent, du 2 e Groupe
<T Aviation, Pilote a l'Escadrille Spad 12
Tres bon pilote qui fait preuve du plus bel
esprit de sacrifice, de discipline, et de mor-
dant. A incendie un drachen le 22 aout,
1918.
Le General Commandant la V e Armee
Berthelot
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HAROLD YOUNG SAXON
SAXON is one of the most amusing and original of men; to know him is to
like him, and he is known and spoken of wherever Lafayette men meet.
At Avord, where he studied the eccentricities of the Bleriot, we used
to pass the hours between sorties in games of "Duck on the Rock" and
hockey. Saxon's amazing skill and activity at these pastimes earned him the
title of the "Human Flea." Like many others, who believed in adopting the
customs of the country, he cultivated a mustache during his months of train-
ing — a mustache which flourished richly at the ends, but was discourag-
ingly sparse in the middle section. These drooping sprouts, long and ten-
derly trained, lent to their cultivator a strongly Oriental air, which, taken
with the fact that he spoke the language of Annam with fluency and per-
fect accent, made the title of "King of the Annamites" fall to him natur-
ally. It was often noticed that Jim, the slant-eyed orderly, when he shook
Saxon's foot, preparatory to administering the morning coffee, did so with
the air of one approaching royalty.
In the Spad 31 and later in the Spad 12, George Dock and Saxon were a
pair which upheld the best of American traditions. A very clever and reliable
Spad pilot, Saxon was in the air at every opportunity, and fought through
every important battle on the Western Front during 191 8. With the natural
desire of an American to fight under his own flag, he applied for transfer to
the United States Air Service, but an enlarged tonsil prevented his passing
the physical tests. It took nearly a year and a number of victories in the air
to persuade the army medical authorities that the modern scout machine is
able to carry an enlarged tonsil in addition to the pilot.
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SERVICE RECORD
Lawrence Scanlon, Cedarhurst, Long Island.
Previous Service: Foreign Legion (Infantry),
November 26, 1914, to January 1, 1917.
Wounded, June 16, 1915.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: February 8, 1917.
Aviation Schools: February 24 to September I,
19 1 7, Avord, Chateauroux.
Reforme from French Aviation, September,
I9I7-
Final Rank: Sold at de deuxieme classe.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star (Infantry).
LAWRENCE SCANLON
LATE in the winter of 1916-17,
when the number of Ameri-
-« can student pilots at Avord
had increased from twenty to forty
or thereabouts, the most observ-
ing of the older men noticed among
the newcomers a slightly built, red-
haired chap in a well-worn poilu
uniform. No one knew his name. No one had seen him come. He merely
appeared, one day, sitting on a cot in the American barracks presided over
by Jim, the Annamite orderly.
We all learned in time that this was Scanlon; but not until a month later
when Charles Trinkard arrived, did we know that he was "Red" Scan-
lon of the Legion. For Scanlon invented the art of self-effacement. Once,
when he was being discussed by some of the crowd at barracks, one man
promised to buy a dinner for the crowd if "Red" could innocently be tricked
into the well-known prelude, "When I was in the Legion ..." which some
of the old volunteers were so fond of playing. He was quite safe in making the
offer, which is still outstanding.
Charles Trinkard, an old foot-soldiering comrade of his, told us of Scan-
Ion's enlistment in the Legion on November 26, 1914; how he first went over
the top with the Legion near Carrency on the 9th of May, 191 5, when the
regiment lost three quarters of its effectives; and a second time on June 16
near Souchez, when he was severely wounded in the right leg. After thirteen
months in the hospital of Passy near Veron, he was discharged with the bad
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LAWRENCE SCANLON
leg shortened several inches. Reformi from the infantry (for he was no longer
fit for service) he enlisted in the Lafayette Corps.
While in training at the Avord
School he had a series of extraordi-
nary flying accidents. Accidents at
an aviation school are so common
that most of them are forgotten be-
fore the day has passed. Not so with
Scanlon's crashes. They are still re-
membered, and will be talked about
years hence wherever his contem-
poraries at Avord gather for reun-
ions. The most remarkable one hap-
pened in the spring of 191 7 when
he dove through the bakery roof at
the Artillery School, creating panic
among the boulangers and a crise de
pain throughout a whole regiment of
young artillerymen. He crawled out
of the ruin of the bakery, and there-
after was much bothered by pilots
and instructors who wanted to know
what marvelous kind of "porte-bon-
heur" he carried.
His wounded leg gave him a great
deal of trouble, and after three more
scanlon's crash into the bakery fearful crashes, he was released from
the Service, greatly to his own dis-
appointment and to that of every man in the Corps. For Scanlon is one of
those men who may be called, in all truth, the salt of the earth.
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SERVICE RECORD
Walter John Shaffer, Dauphin, Pennsylvania.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: August I, 19 17.
Aviation Schools: August 1 to December 28,
191 7, Avord, Tours, Pau,
G.D.E.
Breveted: October 7, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 156, January 1 to
June 1, 1918.
Escadrille Spad 38, June 1 to Oc-
tober 3, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Shot down southeast of Laon, October 3, 19 18.
Prisoner in Germany until the Armistice.
Decorations:
Medaille Militaire.
Croix de Guerre, with three Palms.
CITATIONS
4 C Armee. 18 aout, 1918
Citation a VOrdre de V Armee:
Le Sergent Shaffer, Walter John, Mk
12367, du 2 C Groupe d' Aviation, Esca-
drille Spa. 38
Sous-officier plein d'allant et d'entrain,
recherchant toujours les occasions de com-
battre. A fait preuve d'un tenacite rare et d'une endurance extraordinaire, dans les missions
contre drachens, revenant souvent avec son avion crible de balles. Le 4 aout, 1918, a abattu
en flammes un drachen ennemi. u ^.^ Commandant la ^ Afmie
Gouraud
VI C Armee, £tat-Major. 20 septembre, 191 8
Citation a VOrdre de V Armee:
Shaffer, Walter, Sergent a l'Escadrille Spa. 38, G.C. 22 detache du
i cr Regiment fitranger
Pilote hardi et plein de hardiesse. Le 26 aout, 1918, a abattu son 2* mc avion ennemi apres
un combat mene avec un allant qui fit Padmiration de tous.
Le General Commandant la 6 e Armee
(Signe) Degoutte
Citation Medaille Militaire:
Sergent Shaffer, Walter, Pilote a TEscadrille Spa. 38
Sous-officier pilote de tout premier ordre. A donne des preuves d'allant et d'energie au
cours de nombreux combats. A abattu un avion et incendie un drachen. Le 3 octobre, 191 8,
a acharnant a mitrailler un drachen au sol, a eu son appareil crible de balles et a ete con-
traint d'atterrir dans les lignes ennemies — legerement blesse. Capture, s'est evade peu de
temps apres. A ete repris avant d'avoir pu atteindre nos lignes et traite durement en repre-
sailles. Deux victoires. Deux citations.
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WALTER JOHN SHAFFER
SHAFFER has had an exceptionally interesting experience of the war.
He has flown over the lines on the Nieuport, the Morane Parasol, and
the Spad. He served in the same squadron with the "aces," Putnam
and Madon, and on October 3, 191 8, was shot down and taken prisoner by
the Germans.
His first Boche was shot down while on patrol with Madon. They were
flying over the Marne Sector when the "ace," who was leading the patrol,
made out a Boche biplace below them; he dove, but his guns jammed just as
he got into position. A second man then dove, filling the air with the smoke
of his incendiary bullets, but missing the German. Shaffer dove next, and
shot a burst of nearly a hundred cartridges before he was so blinded by the
smoke that he lost sight of the enemy.
On returning to the aerodrome, he found Madon in conversation with the
Group Commander. "Who was the third to attack the Boche?" asked
Madon, and when Shaffer admitted that he was the man, the " ace " held out
his hand. "You got him," he announced.
On another occasion, near Rheims, while flying with one comrade, Shaffer
had a narrow escape. He had seen a patrol of four monoplaces, which he took
to be Spads, overhead, and the next moment he attacked an Iron-Crossed
two-seater which was doing reglage five hundred meters below him. The
German observer must have been a champion shot, for in three or four bursts
he shot off Shaffer's bequille and put several bullets through the top plane, so
close to the pilot's head that they fairly grazed the skin. At this moment, to
cap the climax, the four innocent-looking monoplacts upstairs, which were in
reality Fokkers, took a hand in the fight, and only the courage and skill of
Shaffer's comrade disengaged him from a very bad situation.
On October 3, while diving on a saucisse twelve kilometers behind the
German lines, Shaffer had his motor ruined by bullets from the ground, and
was forced to land. His own account of the adventure follows:
"A dead stick, six hundred meters high, and ten miles behind the Boche
lines — I was out of luck all right; I would be a prisoner. The question was,
would it be a live or a dead one, for the ground beneath was nothing but
barbed wire, trenches, and shell-holes. As I planed down, the thought oc-
curred to me that when an aviator lands in enemy territory, he has explicit
orders to burn or destroy his plane. As I felt sure I would not have time to
burn my plane, I decided to destroy it, a simple matter considering the
ground ahead. All I had to do was to throw her over on one wing and my
speed and the rough ground would do the rest. I did not have long to wait.
With a splintering of struts and stays, and a ripping of cloth as the lowered
wing touched the earth, the plane buried its nose in the ground, crushing the
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WALTER JOHN SHAFFER
landing-gear and propeller. Considering the fact that it was the first time
I had deliberately smashed a plane, I had not done badly, for the wreck
would have pleased the most critical Squadron Commander. The only useful
things left were the tail and the two guns, and the latter were not working,
as I found when I attacked the balloon."
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SERVICE RECORD
Clarence Bernard Shoninger, New York City.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 19 1 6-
17-
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 24, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: June 5, 19 17, to February 20,
191 8, Avord, Juvisy, Pau,
G.D.E.
Breveted: November 26, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille N. 99, February 22 to
May 29, 19 1 8.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Shot down in combat: Near Fismes, May 29, 1918.
Prisoner in Germany until the Armistice.
CLARENCE B. SHONINGER
O
[ N May 29, the third day of
the great German advance
south from the Chemin des
Dames, a patrol of the Spad 99 was
ordered to reconnoiter the rapidly
shifting front and drive back any
Germans who might be doing reglage
between Rheims and La Fere-en-Tardenois. Shoninger's machine was not
running properly, and to his bitter disappointment the Captain told him
that he could not go. While the mecaniciens were starting the other machines,
Shoninger worked frantically with his man in a desperate hope of getting the
motor to run. As the last of the patrol took off, it seemed to run satisfac-
torily, so he rushed to the Captain and begged permission to follow. A
grudging nod was sufficient for Shoninger; he dashed to his machine, strapped
himself in, and next moment was following the patrol toward the lines. Be-
tween Rheims and Fismes he became separated from the patrol, and at that
moment was attacked by a gang of Albatross, one of which he forced to
land in the ensuing fight. But either the Albatross or the mitrailleuses on the
ground riddled Shoninger's machine with bullets and cut his controls, send-
ing him crashing down into a German anti-aircraft battery near Crugny.
It was long believed that Shoninger had been killed, until one day it was
learned that he was a prisoner. The tale of his captivity is long and inter-
esting as his friends learned when, shortly after the Armistice, he returned
safely to Paris.
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SERVICE RECORD
Reginald Sinclaire, Corning, New York.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 15, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 20 to December 2, 1917,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 2, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 68, December 4,
1917, to October 4, 1918.
Final Rank: Adjudant.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with three Palms.
CITATIONS
Le 7 mars, 191 8
I* 1 * Armee, £tat-Major.
Le General Commandant la i* rc Armee cite
a TOrdre de TArmee:
Sinclaire, Reginald, M ,c 12254, Caporal
du i cr Regiment fitranger, Pilote a TEs-
cadrille Spad 68
Pilote americain, engage volontaire, d'une
ardeur et d'une bravoure au-dessus de tout
eloge. Le 17 fevrier, 191 8, par sa maitrise
et son attitude resolue, a tenu en respect
une protection de trois avion s de chasse,
permettant ainsi a son camarade d'abattre
un avion.
Le 17 septembre, 191 8
Citation a VOrdre de V Armee:
Sinclaire, Reginald, M te 12254, Adjudant au i er Regiment Etranger, Pilote a
TEscadrille Spad 68
Remarquable pilote de chasse, possedant desqualites superieures de sang-froid, de decision,
et d'audace reflechies. A livre de nombreux combats au cours desquels 2 avions ennemis sont
tombes desempares. Le 17 juin, 191 8, a abattu en flammes un avion allemand a plusieurs
kilometres a l'interieur des lignes ennemis.
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REGINALD SINCLAIRE
SINCLAIRE, in his day, was one of the steadiest Bleriot pilots at
Avord. He broke nothing in the schools, and after his arrival at the
Front, in the Spad 68, he became widely known for his brilliant and
aggressive work over the lines. Through the thickest of the fighting in
1 91 8, he was constantly with his squadron, flying often three times a day in
company with a French comrade, Gauderman. They were a formidable pair,
but through all their work they were followed by ill luck in getting con-
firmations. Once at the G.C. 20, a number of Lafayette men were seated at
the bar when Sinclaire came rushing in all smiles, and ordered champagne
for the crowd. "Gauderman and I just shot down three Bodies," he said;
"we were fifteen miles into their lines beyond Soissons when we ran across a
patrol of four Pfalz. It was just a case of keep above them — pique and chart-
delle; in three dives we had three of them dropping, two in flames. We had to
hand it to the other fellow, he was so plucky. He would not leave, but stuck
around trying to get into a position to shoot — poor devil, we could have got
him, but he was too nervy, we did n't have the heart."
Like many others that Sinclaire shot down, these Germans were so far in
their lines that no one of them was ever confirmed.
In addition to his fine military qualities, Sinclaire's good-fellowship has
made him equally popular with his French and American comrades, and he
will be one of the leaders in all future reunions of the Lafayette Flying
Corps.
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SERVICE RECORD
Glenn Sitterly, Spring Valley, Illinois.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1917.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 31, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: June 12, 191 7, to March 24,
1918, Avord, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 22, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille C. 46, March 26 to
August 20, 19 1 8.
Escadrille Spad 38, October 15,
1918, to Armistice.
Final Rank: Adjudant.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre f with Palm.
GLENN SITTERLY
GLENN SITTERLY was one of the pioneers in the triplace pursuit
work which developed in the spring of 1918. A pilot of unusual
cleverness, he had need of all his skill in this branch of the service, for
it proved to be a hazardous duty.
Sitterly was assigned to the Caudron 46, one of the frequently cited esca-
drilles of the French army. From March until the middle of August, he took
part in the work of shooting up trenches and communications at low altitude,
protecting day bombardments far beyond the lines, and effecting ordinary
barrage patrols. In July, his machine was brought down in flames, near Vil-
lers-Cotterets, but by a miracle he and his mitrailleurs escaped injury. In
August, Sitterly transferred to monoplace chasse work, and was sent to the
escadrille of Madon. There he brought down his second official enemy plane,
a two-seater which was distributing sheets of propaganda over French terri-
tory. Sitterly is reticent about recounting his experiences, and it is only by
seeing his uniform, torn by shrapnel and bullets, that one can realize the
narrow escapes he has had.
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SERVICE RECORD
Robert Soubiran, New York City.
Previous Service: Foreign Legion (Infantry),
August 28, 1914, to February 25, 1916.
Wounded, October 19, 1915.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: February 27, 1 91 6.
Aviation Schools: February 27 to October 20.
1916, Pau, Buc, G.D.E.
Breveted: May 22, 1916 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille I^afayette, October 22,
1916, to February 18, 1918.
Final Rank: Adjudant.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Captain: January 26, 191 8.
Promoted Major: February 18, 1919.
At the Front: 103d Pursuit Squadron, as Flight
Commander and later as Com-
manding Officer, February 18,
1918, to Armistice.
Decorations:
Legion d'Honneur.
Croix de Guerre, with two Palms.
CITATIONS
VI mc Armee. 9 novembre, 1917
Soubiran, Robert (Legion Etrangere), Pilote a rEscadrille Spa. 124
Americain engage des le debut de la guerre dans la Legion Etrangere, ou il prit part auz
combats de l'Aisne en 1914 et aux attaques de Champagne en 191 5. Blesse le 19 octobre, 191 5.
Passe dans l'Aviation, s'est montre excellent pilote, remplissant avec une ardeur remarquable
les missions qui lui ont ete confiees. Le 17 octobre, au cours d'une protection d'attaque de
drachens, a force un appareil ennemi a atterrir desempare. (Signe) Maistre
Grand Quartier General des Armees Fran^aises
de l'Est, Etat-Major. Le 17 mat, 1919
Apres approbation du General Commandant en Chef les Forces Expeditionnaires Ameri-
caines en France, le Marechal Commandant en Chef les Armees Francaises de l'Est,
cite a TOrdre de l'Armee:
Capitaine Soubiran, Robert
Citoyen americain engage de aout, 1914, dans la Legion Etrangere. S'est distingue dans
Tlnfanterie (blesse en septembre, 191 5), puis comme pilote a TEscadrille Lafayette, oii il a
montre les plus belles qualites de courage et d'audace.
Le Marechal Commandant en Chef les Armees de VEst
Petain
Par decret du President de la Republique en date du 9 avril, 1919, le Capitaine Soubiran
a ete promu Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur.
Cet promotion a ete fait avec le motif de ce citation.
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ROBERT SOUBIRAN
THERE are towns and villages all along the battle area in France
where the name of Robert Soubiran will be remembered long after
those of most of us have been forgotten. In point of experience he
is one of the oldest of the American volunteers, having enlisted in August,
1 914, with Thaw, Kiffin Rockwell, Dennis Dowd, Alan Seeger, ChatkofF,
Zinn, Bach, and Trinkard. Of French descent, and speaking the language
fluently, he made friends among the inhabitants of scores of villages where
the Legion was stationed when on repos. He whittled his bread with the
natural ease of an old poilu reservist; then sticking his open clasp-knife
upright in the deal table, he would drink pinard from his bidon with audi-
ble zest. Old French housewives hearing him speak English were astonished.
"Mais c'est un Frangais, celui-la!" High praise, reserved to Soubiran alone
of all his compatriots in the Legion.
He served as an infantryman until the close of the Champagne offensive
of 1915, when he was wounded in the knee. After four months in hospital he
was again ready for active duty, and was transferred to the Aviation Corps.
Learning to fly cost him no more than the usual amount of effort, although
he found it hard to adapt himself to the genteel ways of living common to
this chic branch of war service. His infantry practices clung to him, and
many an old Commandant, the occasional guest of the Squadron, detecting
the former Jantassin, became his friend at once and would warm to the theme
of the engages volontaires in the Legion.
The pilots in the Escadrille Lafayette have Soubiran to thank for the only
complete photographic record which they have of their life at the Front. He
was present with his camera at every ceremonial in which the Squadron
took part. He snapped every crash, every bizarre accident at the aerodrome,
and filled memory books with photographs of all of their goings and comings
from one sector to another, squadron parties in Bar-le-Duc, Villers-Cotter-
ets, Nancy, Soissons, Dunkirk, Chalons, £pernay — photographs which are
priceless to them now.
One could talk at great length of his service in France. Like William
Thaw's and Frederick Zinn's, it is, in itself, a history in miniature of the
Great War. Eighteen months in the Legion as an infantryman, twenty-three
months in French Aviation, and on November 11, 1918, nearly ten months
in the United States Air Service with more than four hundred hours of com-
bat flying, is a record of which to be proud. On January 3, 1919, he was men-
tioned as follows in General Orders No. 2 of the First United States Army
Air Service Commander:
"Captain Robert Soubiran, A.S.U.S.A., Commanding Officer of the 103d
Aero Squadron, rendered meritorious service particularly while preparing
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ROBERT SOUBIRAN
and during the Saint-Mihiel and Argonne-Meuse attacks. He has coura-
geously and ably fulfilled the duties of Flight Commander, Squadron and
Group Operations Officer, and Commanding Officer of the 103d Aero Squad-
ron. He has been daily noticeable for his energetic ability, materially assist-
ing in the early organization, equipment, and operation of that Squadron
and subsequently of the 3d Pursuit Group."
SOUBIRAN AND HIS SPAD
He had earlier been proposed for the rank of Major, but instructions from
the War Department discontinued all promotions from the date of the nth
of November, 1918, so that he did not receive his well-earned advance until
many months later. Long after the signing of the Armistice he was still on
duty in France. He was one of the first Americans to take part in the war
and one of the last to leave the country which had been his home for nearly
five years.
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SERVICE RECORD
Dumaresq Spencer, Highland Park, Illinois.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment : July 10, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: July 18 to December 24, 1917,
Avord, Tours, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 21, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille N. 150, December 27,
1917, to January 22, 1918.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Killed in line of duty: January 22, 1918, near
Belfort.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
CITATION
Le Lieutenant Colonel. Chef d'£tat-Major
de la J**** Armee, cite a TOrdre du Ser-
vice Aeronautique de la 7*°* Armee:
Le Brigadier Spencer, Dumaresq (active)
Pilote a l'Escadrille Spad 150
Jeune pilote courageux et rempli d'allant,
le 19 Janvier a attaque un groupe de mono-
places ennemis et est rentre avec son appa-
reils atteint de balles. S'est tue le 22 Janvier,
1918, en revenant atterrir au terrain.
Photograph by Kothnt, Chicago
DUMARESQ SPENCER
SPENCER'S keenness to fly and constant anxiety to get to the Front
were noticable all through his period of training. At Tours, at Avord,
and at Pau, he was impatient of every delay which retarded, even for a
few hours, his progress toward active duty. On December 27, 191 7, he ar-
rived at Belfort, assigned to the N. 150, a squadron which was at that time
equipped with the Type 27 Nieuports. On his first patrol over the lines he
found occasion to show his daring and aggressive spirit, for he became lost
from the formation and flew alone into the enemy lines on the lookout for
trouble. At Mulhouse, ten miles into German territory, he found a lone Al-
batross practicing acrobacy over the city. Spencer plunged headlong to the
attack and a point-blank combat ensued, watched, no doubt, by hundreds of
Germans in the town below. Several times both pilots went into vrilles with
full motor, pulled out and renewed the combat, until at last Spencer lost his
opponent and returned to his aerodrome, the Nieuport bearing many scars
of battle.
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DUMARESQ SPENCER
During his short life at the Front, Spencer became known as the keenest
man in his squadron, flying whenever possible, no matter how cold or windy
the day. He was possessed of but one idea: to shoot down German machines.
His one complaint was the difficulty of getting a combat on the quiet Alsa-
tian Front.
SPENCERS GRAVE, BELFORT
On January 22, 1918, Spencer made his last patrol. Returning from the
lines, he left his formation and flew to a target near the aerodrome, where the
pilots were encouraged to try their skill in shooting. While making a sharp
turn over the target, his machine lost speed and fell in a spin, crashing to the
ground and killing Spencer instantly. His loss was a bitter one, for he had
endeared himself to many friends, and would have gone far had he been
spared.
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SERVICE RECORD
Alfred Holt Stanley, Elmira, New York.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1916-
17.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: April 12, 19 17.
Aviation Schools: June 2, 191 7, to February 22,
1918, Avord, Pau, Cazeaux,
G.D.E.
Breveted: November 13, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 23, February 24,
19 1 8, to Armistice.
Final Rank: Adjudant.
Decorations:
Medaille Militaire.
Croix de Guerre, with four Palms and two Stars.
CITATIONS
Le 19 mat, 191 8
Citation a VOrdre de V Aeronautique:
Stanley, Alfred Holt, Caporal Pilote de
l'Escadrille Spa. 23
Le 4 mai, a permis, par sa tres vigilante
protection, qu'un drachen fut incendie mal-
gre la presence d'un avion ennemi.
Citation a VOrdre de VArm'ee :
Stanley, Alfred Holt, Sergent-Pilote de PEscadrille Spa. 23
Le 24 juin, 1918, malgre la pluie, les nuages tres bas, et les violents tirs des mitrailleuses
de terre, a execute par ordre une reconnaissance a 700 metres d'altitude, et 30 kilometres
a l'interieur des lignes ennemies.
II C Armee.
Tres brillant pilote de chasse, audacieux et toujours intrepide. Le 30 octobre, 191 8, a
abattu un avion ennemi.
Engage volontaire pour la duree de la guerre dans Tarmee francaise, de nationalite ameri-
caine, malgre les avahtages qui lui ont ete offerts dans l'armee de sa nation a reste dans
Taviation francaise. Pilote d'une energie et d'une hardiesse incomparables, reunissant toutes
les qualites de chasseur, volontaire pour toutes les missions perilleuses. Dans de nombreux
combats a prouve son tres grand mepris du danger, donnant a tous ses camarades le plus bel
exemple du devoir et de sacrifice. Quatre citations.
Cinquieme citation et Medaille Militaire.
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ALFRED HOLT STANLEY
2 C Arm£e. Le 13 octobre, 1918
Le General Commandant la 2 C Armee cite a TOrdre de 1 'Armee:
Le Sergent Stanley, Alfred Holt, M k 122 18, du i er Regiment de la Legion Etrangere,
Pilote a rEscadrille Spa. 23
Pilote d'une audace remarquable, prouve jouraellement son tres grand mepris du danger.
Le 18 septembre, au cours d'un dur combat, a eu son avion deteriore par les balles.
Chasseur d'elite, s'est distingue dans maints combats par son adresse et sa resolution.
Le 18 septembre, 191 8, a attaque et abattu un biplace ennemi. Deux citations anterieures.
Le General Commandant la 2*°" Armee :
(Signe) Hirschauer
ALFRED HOLT STANLEY
STANLEY is a fine example of the quiet determination which pushes
deliberately ahead through all obstacles to success. In the schools he
never boasted about his flying. On the contrary, he was doubtful of
his skill. At Pau he said frankly that he disliked acrobatics, which made him
ill. But it was noticeable that he did not ask to go on a two-seater type of
machine. After leaving Pau, he flew for a time in the squadron which pro-
tected Paris, constantly perfecting himself in the fine points of chasse work,
and at length, in February, 1918, when he felt that he had thoroughly mas-
tered combat flying, he went to the Front in Escadrille Spad 23, com-
manded by the "ace," Pinsard. Once in the thick of the fighting, it was clear
that his long preparation had made him a pilot of the first order.
During the battles of 1918 he won several victories. He has the distinction
of coming out alive from an adventure such as few men have known. On the
23d of September, in the region of £tain, near Verdun, he was attacking a
German biplace, when suddenly the pilot maneuvered in such a way as to
bring Stanley directly under the observer's gun, at a range of only twenty
yards. A stream of incendiary bullets poured into his fuselage and upper
plane, setting fire to the small nourrice gasoline tank, ruining the motor, and
cutting the oil and water connections. With great presence of mind, after
dropping three thousand feet, Stanley succeeded in extinguishing the fire.
As he was then quite low, and at a distance of eight kilometers in the Ger-
man lines, it was a question of starting the motor or being taken prisoner.
With a pierced crank case, a broken connection rod, and no oil or water, he
managed to make the motor stagger along sufficiently to cross the first line
and land within a few meters of the second-line trenches.
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SERVICE RECORD
Frank Elmer Starrett, Athol, Massachusetts.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1917.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 19, 1917.
Aviation Schools: August I, 191 7, to January 3,
191 8, Avord, Tours.
Final Rank: Soldat de deuxieme classe.
Killed in line of duty: January 3, 19 1 8, at Tours.
FRANK ELMER STARRETT
A LMOST from the time of his enlistment in the Lafayette Corps, luck
/-\ was against Starrett. His training was seriously retarded by the
JL JL transfer of his detachment from Avord to Tours, and shortly after
his arrival at the latter school he was taken ill with bronchial pneumonia
and forced to spend two months in hospital. Chafing with impatience to get
to the Front, he refused the convalescent leave offered him on his discharge
from the hospital and resumed training before he had fully recovered his
strength.
Keen, intelligent, and quick to master the principles of flying, Starrett
gave promise of fine service at the Front; but he was destined never to reach
it. On January 3, 191 8, while on a brevet flight, he was killed in one of those
accidents which remain forever unexplained. His Caudron fell near Pontle-
voy, and he was buried, with full military honors, in the American cemetery
at Tours.
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SERVICE RECORD
Russell F. Stearns, Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 191 7.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: April 12, 191 7.
Aviation Schools : April 26 to December 24, 191 7,
Avord, Juvisy, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 21, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 150, December 27,
191 7, to February 24, 191 8.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Marine Aviation :
Commissioned Second Lieutenant.
Served two months in U.S.M.A. Discharged on
account of ill-health.
RUSSELL F. STEARNS
STEARNS enlisted in the Corps after a term of faithful service in the
American Ambulance, and arrived at Avord on April 26, 1917. He was
one of the few who took the double-command Bleriot training, was
transferred later on to Juvisy, and breveted on Caudron there. The fact that
he became a pilot and went through the school of acrobacy at Pau speaks
well for his determination and pluck, for he hated flying from the beginning,
and often told his friends that he dreaded the thought of going into the air
and disliked the very sight of a flying machine.
On December 27, 1917, Stearns was sent to the Escadrille N. 150, with
which he served until February 24, when he went to America on leave. While
at home he obtained his release from the French army and transferred to the
United States Marine Air Service, but ill health, which had hindered him in
France, forced him to obtain his discharge after serving two months.
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SERVICE RECORD
Joseph Charles Stehlin, Brooklyn, New York.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: February 19, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: March 1 to August 16, 1917,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E
Breveted: June 23, 1917 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 95, August 18 to
October 2, 191 7.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATIONS
VI e Arm£e, £tat-Major.
Citation a VOrdre de VArmee:
Stehlin, Joseph Charles (Infanterie),
Pilote a l'Escadrille No. 95
Jeune pilote plein d'entrain; a attaque, le
7 septembre, 191 7, un avion qui est tombe
en flammes dans ses lignes.
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JOSEPH CHARLES STEHLIN
JOSEPH STEHLIN made an excellent beginning as a combat pilot,
shooting down a German plane soon after his arrival at the Front. In
January, 191 8, when he was about to be released from French Aviation
for the purpose of accepting a commission in the United States Air Service,
he took advantage of this opportunity, and notwithstanding urgent orders
from the American authorities that he should remain in France so that his
transfer might be effected, he secured a French permission, and returned to
America.
A considerable correspondence then took place between the French Em-
bassy in Washington and the Ministry of War in Paris, relative to his status.
The Military Attache of the French Embassy in Washington wrote to the
French Ministry of War, asking that Stehlin's engagement with the French
army be canceled, stating that the United States Air Service would take him
over with the rank of Lieutenant if he could be cleared from his French
army obligations. This correspondence covered a period of several months.
Stehlin, meanwhile, uncertain of his rating, and in doubt as to what he
should do, accepted employment as a speaker for Liberty loans. He did very
good work and was instrumental in raising large sums of money. In this way
he served his country to good advantage. Still in doubt as to his status,
he returned to France on October 30, 191 8, reaching Paris after the Armi-
stice was signed.
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SERVICE RECORD
Henry Elmer Stickney, Rutland, Vermont.
Service in French Aviation :
Date of enlistment: July 21 f 191 7.
Aviation Schools: July 31 to December 2, 1917,
Avord, Tours, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 3, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 150, December 4,
1917, to June 20, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: June 3, 191 8.
At the Front: Attached to French Squadron
Spad 150, June 21, 1918, to
Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATION
G.Q.G., 3 novembre, 1918
Lieutenant Henry Stickney, de l'Armee
Americaine, Pilote a rEscadrille Spa. 150
Officier pilote d'un grand courage, s'est
signale dans de nombreux combats. Le i er
septembre, 191 8, au cours de Tun d'eux a
abattu un avion ennemi.
HENRY ELMER STICKNEY
STICKNEY is probably the smallest man in the Lafayette Flying
Corps, In a Spad, in order to bring his gun-sights in line with his eye,
he had to bolster himself up with cushions and to sit on the very edge
of the seat that he might be able to reach the rudder bar. He comes from
Vermont, and had his first aerial experience while touring his native moun-
tains on a motor-cycle, when, for some reason, the throttle became stuck in
the wide-open position. He sped up a hill at break-neck speed and down the
other side with a velocity nearly equal to that of a Spad. Seeing a large ditch
looming ahead in the valley, he was debating what he should do, when the
front wheel struck — and Stickney made a prolonged but wingless flight.
He survived this accident and was none the worse for it afterward. His first
experiences as an aviator were in Vermont where he built and tested gliders.
These machines, according to Stickney, worked splendidly in the air, but
were always destroyed upon reaching the ground. Therefore the amateur ac-
cepted the French Government's invitation to fly free of charge and to fight
on the Western Front.
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HENRY ELMER STICKNEY
On June 14, 1918, while patrolling the lines between Soissons and Noyon,
Stickney had a combat which came near being his last. He had left his patrol
to attack a German too far in to catch, and was flying alone near Soissons
when he saw two enemy reglage machines heading for their lines. Seeing no
protection, he allowed the first one. to pass and was attacking the second
from above when suddenly he heard the stutter of guns behind him and
saw tracer bullets streaking past. The adventure as he told of it in a letter,
follows :
"Looking around I found three Fokker triplanes had joined the party and
seemed to be taking turns shooting at me. I made one attack on the biplace,
shooting both guns at point-blank range and redressing just in time to avoid
a smash; then, without looking for the result of my shots, I turned to attack
the nearest triplane, which was now pretty close and making a lot of noise.
When I pulled the triggers to open fire, my guns jammed and left me feeling
rather simple in the midst of the Germans, who were setting up a Roman-
candle effect with the tracer bullets from their guns. Deciding to leave such
company, I pointed the nose of my machine toward the ground and let it
have all its motor. It fell like a plummet for more than 2000 meters, and
finally I nursed it out of its dive into ligne de vol, only 150 meters from the
ground; but whose ground? Fritz's, for they soon announced it with a little
machine-gun work. Evidently they did not allow enough for my speed, for
their tracers passed just behind my tail, and as they continued to miss me I
began to feel more comfortable. Just at this moment I heard a machine gun
behind me, and looking back, found the triplanes were still in the game, hav-
ing come down at a more gentle angle. I bet on my old Spad for speed and
turned her nose toward the friendly French * sausages.' Eventually I reached
our lines, and then the shooting was turned on the Germans, but they still
followed. Then a curious thing happened: I seemed to be climbing again,
mounting to the height of the * sausages.' This was not what I wanted, as I
needed all my speed to keep ahead of Fritz. I looked at the altimeter and
found that my altitude had not changed, and then it dawned upon me that
the * sausages' were being pulled down, as the Germans were still on my tail
and dangerously near. When at last I passed over the * sausage' line, all the
balloons were on the ground. I finally reached my field and landed. The ma-
chine was hit in nine places, three or four just missing my gas tank."
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SERVICE RECORD
Donald E. Stone, New York City.
Previous Service: Norton-Harjes Ambulance,
1916-17.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: April 8, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: June 15, 1917, to March 16,
1918, Avord, Pau, Ca-
zeaux, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 22, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 12, March 18 to
April 21, 1918.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Killed in combat: April 21, 19 1 8.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star (Ambulance).
Croix de Guerre t with Star (Aviation).
CITATION
Groupe de Combat 11, le 27 avril, 191 8
Caporal Stone, Donald, Pilote a l'Esca-
drille Spa. 12
Engage volontaire de nationality ameri-
cain. Jeune pilote qui pendant son court
sejour a l'Escadrille a fait preuve d'une
audace, d'un devouement, et d'une ardeur
remarquable. S'est particulierement distingue le 21 avrii au cours d'un violent engagement,
y a fait preuve de la plus belle oeuvre.
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DONALD E. STONE
AS one looks back on former comrades of the Lafayette Flying Corps,
L\ it is remarkable how each individual stands out, for most of them
jl JL were unusual men, of imagination and adventurous spirit. Stone had
traveled much, worked at widely different things, and known people of the
racial and social extremes. Cattle-rancher in Mexico, ambulance driver
before our declaration of war, and a fighting pilot on the Western Front,
Stone's adventurous life ended on April 21, 1918, when he was shot down in
a stirring combat against thirteen Germans.
He was a thoughtful, silent, rather serious chap who in rare moods talked
well of interesting places and people, a man respected by his acquaintances
and loved by his friends. His sincerely patriotic character is illustrated by the
following passage from a letter written by him to Major Gros on May 15,
1917:
"As it is my good fortune to be in France, serving with the American
Ambulance, I have learned something of the needs of the Allied Powers. Now
that my Country is at war for the same cause ... I am anxious to contribute
a greater service than by driving an ambulance . . . and after studying our
needs and my own fitness, I have chosen Aviation."
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SERVICE RECORD
Upton Sullivan, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 13, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 25, 1917, to January 6,
1918, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: November 16, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille N. 90, January 8 to
April 8, 191 8.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Naval Aviation:
Commissioned Ensign: April 12, 191 8.
At the Front: With Northern Bombing Group,
U.S.N.A.S., until the Armistice.
UPTON SULLIVAN
SULLIVAN always got on well with the French and was very much at
home in his squadron, the N. 90, then stationed at Nancy. His Captain,
in the spring of 191 8, offered to propose him for a Lieutenancy, but
Sullivan had already applied for a commission in the United States Navy.
During the summer he transferred to the United States Naval Air Service.
He had a very severe crash in a Handley-Page and was injured, but was
able to continue flying after his release from hospital, and served with the
Northern Bombing Group, U.S.N.A.S., until the signing of the Armistice.
It is regrettable that we have no account of his adventures after transferring
from the French Service, for the bombing work undertaken by the Navy was
often of the most interesting character.
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SERVICE RECORD
Leslie R. Taber, Auburn, New York.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 191 7.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 25, 1917.
Aviation Schools: July 19, 1917, to March 9, 1918, Avord, Tours, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 26, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Br. 29, March 1 1 to March 17, 1918.
Final Rank: CaporaL
Service in U.S. Naval Aviation:
Commissioned Ensign: March 19, 1918.
At the Front: Attached to the British Handley-Page Night Bombing Squadron No. 214.
First U.S. Naval Night Bombing Squadron.
LESLIE R. TABER
TABER was trained at Avord, at Tours, and at the French bombing
school of Sacy-le-Grand. On March 11, 1918, he joined the Esca-
drille Br. 29, then operating in the Vosges, and saw active service
with that unit until March 17, when he transferred to the United States
Naval Air Service with the rank of Ensign. Since that time he has had an
exceptionally broad experience of aviation, having flown many types of
planes in France, Italy, England, and Belgium. On one occasion he ferried a
600 H.P. Caproni from Milan, Italy, to Calais. From July, 1918, to the close
of hostilities, he piloted a Handley-Page as a member of the Northern
Bombing Group, and made repeated raids on Zeebrugge and other German
bases on the Belgian coast. Altogether, Taber's experience of the war is one
to be envied, for he has enjoyed a rare amount of travel and a large share of
adventure.
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SERVICE RECORD
William Hallet Tailer, Roslyn, New York.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 21, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: July 31 to December 12, 191 7,
Avord, Tours, Pau, G D.E.
Breveted: October 10, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 67, December 14,
1917, to February 5, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Killed in line of duty: February 5, 1918, near
Verdun.
WILLIAM HALLET TAILER
TAILER'S progress through the schools was brilliant, and when, on
December 14, 1917, he was sent to the Escadrille Spad 67, of the
famous Groupe of Cigognes, he seemed assured of an equally bril-
liant future. Less than two months later he was buried at the Front.
A friend, writing in the columns of the Paris Herald, said of Tailer: "He
was as fine a type of the rising generation of Americans as you could wish to
meet . . . endowed with one of the rarest natures, a cheerful spirituality
which looked only on the bright side of life. Billy . . . was a member of the
. . . 7th Regiment, passed some time on the Mexican Border, and afterwards
passed into the Aviation Service, where he made extraordinary progress. It
seems but yesterday that he left his home to take his first lessons in the new
art. . . . He was one of many in the village of Roslyn to volunteer for service
. . . and is, I think, the first of these to go."
On February 6, 191 8, the day after Tailer's death, another Lafayette man,
attached to the Cigognes, wrote: "Yesterday William H. Tailer of Spad 67
was killed while flying patrol over the lines. As the Captain made a virage
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WILLIAM HALLET TAILER
he saw Tailer's machine fall nose down and go into a vrille from which he
never pulled out. Some officers on the ground saw him fall. At about a thou-
sand meters he lost both wings and the plane crashed about three kilometers
MONUMENT ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF WILLIAM H. TAILER BY THE
CITIZENS OF ROSLYN
back of the lines. No one can say definitely what happened . . . they were
being shelled by German anti-aircraft. The consensus of opinion is that he
must have been hit. I am trying to have a firing squad of U.S. Regulars to
render the last military honors. First Phil Benney and now Bill Tailer . . .
two of my best friends and two of the finest boys who ever lived."
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SERVICE RECORD
Elmer B. Taylor, Cedar Grove, New Jersey.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 21, 1917.
Aviation Schools: July 31, 1917, to January 31,
191 8, Avord, Tours, Pau,
G.D.E.
Breveted: November 2, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille C. 74, February 1 to
April 1, 191 8.
Escadrille Spad 102, April 1 to
April 6, 191 8.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Naval Aviation:
Commissioned Ensign: June 12, 19 18.
At the Front: 9th Squadron, Northern Bombing
Group, June 15 to October 27,
1918.
Died of pneumonia: October 27, 1918, at Calais.
ELMER B. TAYLOR
ENLISTING on July 21, 1917, Taylor made exceptionally fast progress
through the schools and arrived at the G.D.E. with men who had
enlisted three months before him. While at Plessis he was taken seri-
ously ill. After two months of hospital and convalescence he arrived at the
Front. He was assigned to the Escadrille C. 74, and then to the Spad 102,
only to be transferred to the Navy six days later. In the Naval Air Service he
was a member of the 9th Squadron, Northern Bombing Group, where he
made an excellent record. The hardships of the previous winter had under-
mined his health and he was finally compelled to go to hospital with a severe
attack of bronchial trouble. This developed into pneumonia from which
he died, on October 27, 191 8.
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SERVICE RECORD
Hugh Terres, Kensington, London, S.W., Eng-
land.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 15, 1917.
Aviation Schools: May 26, 191 7, to March 30,
1918, Avord, Crotoy, G.D.E.
Breveted: November 20, 19 17 (Caudron).
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service jn U.S. Naval Aviation :
Commissioned Ensign: April, 191 8.
Killed in line of duty: Near Milan, Italy, August
17, 1918.
A'
HUGH TERRES
LL the Lafayette men who
were elcves at Avord during
the spring and summer of
1 91 7 will remember Terres, the pleas-
ant, dark-eyed fellow, blessed with
perfect French and English of the
Oxford variety, who acted for a time
as our interpreter. His position, as
intermediary between American eleves
and French authorities, was not an easy one, but his tact and good-breed-
ing smoothed over many" a difficult situation and made him liked and re-
spected by all of his comrades. Terres had accepted the work of interpreter
with the idea of becoming a student-pilot, for it was not in him to stand back
when there was difficult or dangerous work to be done, and none of his
friends were surprised when he announced, in the middle of the summer,
that he was to begin flying. He took the Caudron training, was breveted
on November 20, 1917, and, as he had decided to specialize in bombing,
was sent to Le Crotoy before going to the G.D.E. Commissioned Ensign
in the United States Navy before he had been assigned to a squadron on the
Front, Terres was sent to Italy, where he met his death on August 17, 1918.
While flying a Caproni near Milan, the huge plane ran out of petrol at a
very low altitude over bad ground, and in the ensuing crash Terres was
killed, with the two pilots accompanying him. His death cost the Navy a
skillful and courageous officer, and brought sadness to all who had known
and admired his fine qualities.
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SERVICE RECORD
William Thaw, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Previous Service: Foreign Legion (Infantry).
August 21 to December 24, 1914.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: December 24, 191 4.
Aviation Schools: February 1 to March 20, 191 5,
Saint-Cyr, Buc, R.G.A.
Breveted: March 15, 191 5 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille D. 6 (as observer and
machine-gunner), December 24,
1914, to February 1, 191 5.
Escadrille C. 42, March 26, 191 5,
to January 29, 19 16.
Escadrille N. 65, March 28 to
April 15, 1916.
Escadrille Lafayette, April 21,
1916, to February 18, 191 8.
Final Rank: Lieutenant.
Wounded in combat: May 24, 1 91 6.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Major: January 26, 1918.
Promoted Lieutenant-Colonel, November 12,
1918.
At the Front: CO. 103d Pursuit Squadron, Feb-
ruary 18 to August 10, 1918.
CO. 3d Pursuit Group, August 10,
1918, to Armistice.
Decorations:
Distinguished Service Cross, with Bronze Oak Leaf.
Legion cTHonneur (Rosette).
Croix de Guerre, with four Palms and two Stars.
CITATIONS
Le 3 mai, 191 5
Citation a VOrdre de la 2 e Division de Cavalerie:
La Caporal Thaw, Pilote de TEscadrille C. 42
A effectue, les 8, 11, 12, mai, 191 5, des reglages dans des circonstances particulierement
difficiles, pilotant son appareil avec une maitrise et un sang-froid remarquables, revenant six
fois de suite au-dessus de son objectif, malgre un feu violent de rartillerie ennemie.
Le 9 mai, 191 5
Citation particuliere peur le Service Aeronautique:
Un avion charge de regler le tir d'une piece d'artillerie a ete pendant ce reglage canonne
d'une facon intense et precise par des canons ennemis de tous calibres.
Cet avion etait conduit par le Pilote Thaw, et avait a son bord le Lieutenant Felix, ob-
servateur. Sans se laisser detourner de sa mission, cet avion a evolue pendant plus d'une
demi-heure au-dessus de son objectif, au milieu des eclatements, les evitant pour revenir sans
cesse a son point d'observation. II a montre une volonte, dans la poursuite du but, une tena-
cite sans peur, dignes d'eloges.
Le General Commandant leD.A.L. felicitele Lieutenant Observateur Felix et le Pilote Thaw.
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WILLIAM THAW
Le 17 tnai, 1915
Ordre de VArmee de Lorraine N° 48 :
Le General Humbert, Commandant de Detachement d'Armee de Lorraine, cite a l'Ordre de
PArmee:
Le Lieutenant Ffcux, Observateur; Le Caporal Thaw, Pilote de l'Escadrille C. 42
Ont toujours fait preuve des plus belles qualites de bravoure et de sang-froid. A deux re-
prises, au cours de voyages d'observation, ont eu leur avion violemment canonne et atteint
par des eclats d'obus causant de gros dommages. Ont neanmoins continue a observer les
positions ennemies et ne sont rentres qu'apres l'accomplissement integral de leur mission.
Le Ministre de la Guerre, Paris. Le 6 juillet, 1916
Vu le Decret du 13 aout, 191 4
Sont inscrits aux tableaux speciaux de la Legion d'Honneur et de la Medaille Militaire les
mil ita ires dont les noms suivent: Pour prendre rang du 18 juin, 1916 . . .
Legion (THonneur pour Chevalier
Thaw, William, M ,e 5503, Lieutenant a l'Escadrille N. 124
Engage volontaire pour la duree de la guerre. Pilote remarquable par son adresse, son
entrain, et son mepris du danger. A livre recemment dix-huit combats aeriens a courte dis-
tance. Le 26 mai au matin a attaque et abattu un avion ennemi. Le soir meme a de nouveau
attaque un groupe de trois appareils allemands et les a poursuivis de 4000 a 1000 metres
d'altitude. Grievement blesse au cours du combat, a reussi grace a son energie et son audace
a ramener dans nos lignes son avion gravement atteint et a atterrir normalement. Deja deux
fois cite a l'Ordre.
Les promotions et nominations ci-dessus component l'attribution de la Croix de Guerre,
avec Palme.
(Signe) Roques
Ordre N° 36 du 3 mai, 191 7
Le General Franchet d'Esperey, Commandant le G.A.N., cite a l'Ordre de l'Armee:
Thaw, William, Lieutenant a l'Escadrille N. 124
Excellent pilote. Revenu sur le front apres guerison d'une blessure grave. N'a cesse de
donner Texemple du courage et de Tentrain. Pendant la retraite allemande, a fait preuve
d'initiative intelligente en atterrissant pres d'elements en marche, pour leur communiquer
des renseignements sur Tennemi qu'il avait recueillis en volant a basse altitude et grace
auxquels des surprises ont pu etre evitees. Le 28 avril a abattu un avion ennemi. (2°* avion.)
G.H.Q., A.E.F.
Major William Thaw, Commanding Officer, 103d Pursuit Squadron
For extraordinary heroism in action near Rheims, France, March 26, 1918. Major Thaw
was the leader of a patrol of three planes which attacked five enemy monoplaces and three
biplaces. He and another member of the patrol brought down one enemy plane, and the
three drove out of control two others and dispersed the remainder.
The Bronze Oak Leaf is awarded to Major Thaw for extraordinary heroism in action
near Montaigne, France, April 20, 191 8. In the region of Montaigne, Major Thaw attacked
and brought down burning an enemy balloon. While returning to his own lines the same day
he attacked two enemy monoplaces, one of which he shot down in flames.
By command of General Pershing
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WILLIAM THAW
IV e Armee. 13 avril, 1918
Le General Commandant la IV*"* Armee cite a l'Ordre de TArmee:
Commandant Major Thaw, William, de TEscadrille Lafayette (G.C. 21)
Commandant une escadrille qui a Texemple de son Chef se fait remarquer par son audace
et son succes. Pilote ardent qui a la tete d'une patrouille a abattu un avion ennemi apres un
dur combat.
(Signe) Gouraud
VI e Armee, £tat-Major. Le 30 avril, 191 8
Citation a VOrdre de V Armee:
M. Thaw, William, Major, Chef de l'Escadrille Americaine N° 103 (Lafayette)
Chef d'escadrille absolument remarquable. Donne a ses pilotes le plus bel exemple de cou-
rage et d'entrain, faisant de son escadrille une unite de premier ordre. Le 20 avril, au cours
du meme vol, abattu un avion ennemi et incendie un drachen.
(Signe) Duchene
Grand Quartier General des Armees Francaises
de l'Est, £tat-Major. Le 17 tnai, 1919
Le Marechal Commandant en Chef les Armees Francaises de TEst cite a TOrdre de V Armee:
Lieutenant-Colonel Thaw, William
Citoyen americain, engage des le debut de la campagne dans la Legion fitrangere. A fait
preuve des plus remarquable qualites de soldat et de chef. S'est distingue a TEscadrille
Lafayette, d'abord comme pilote et ensuite comme commandant de cette unite.
Petain
Par decret du President de la Republique en date du . . . avril, 1919, le Colonel Thaw a ete
promu Officier de la Legion d'Honneur.
Ce promotion a ete fait avec le motif de ce citation.
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WILLIAM THAW
THE record of William Thaw's service in the Allied cause is in itself a
history of the Great War. To one acquainted with the development
of military aviation, it reads like romance of the most unusual kind.
One has only to remember the aerial setting of his adventures and the sweep
of events through four long years; then, giving the imagination free play,
allowing it to transform a series of dry biographical facts, it is possible to
construct a tale of those adventures which, even with such an aid, will fail
far short of the truth.
In August, 1914, Thaw was a soldier of the second class, an infantryman
in the French Foreign Legion. At the close of the war he was a Lieutenant-
Colonel in the United States Air Service. Between times, and at all times, he
was " Bill " to his old comrades in the Legion and to his old pilots in the Esca-
drille Lafayette.
He enlisted in the Foreign Legion on August 7, 191 4, and on August 21
was officially accepted as a member of that regiment. In company with
twenty-nine other American volunteers he was sent to Rouen. After six
weeks of drill there and at Toulouse and the Camp de Mailly, a six days'
march to Craonne was made, and on October 16, the American volunteers
saw their first service with the Legion in the front-line trenches. All this while
Thaw, having been an airman in civilian days, was planning and working to
effect a transfer to the French Air Service. He had tried to enlist as a pilot in
the beginning, and was told that he must first join the Legion as an infan-
tryman. James Bach and Bert Hall were also interested in this project, and
the three men discussed their chances daily and nightly, in trenches and
billets. Finally, early in October, they were granted permission to visit the
aerodrome of the Escadrille D. 6 (Captain de Gorges commanding). This
was a squadron of Deperdussins, two-seater monoplanes with 80 H.P. Gnome
motors, long since suppressed as a military avion. There the Americans met
Lieutenant Brocard (then senior pilot of D. 6, later Commandant Brocard of
the Bureau du Sous-Secretaire d'£tat de VAeronautique). They pressed their
case earnestly and enlisted Lieutenant Brocard's help. The result was that
in November, 1914, Bach's orders for transfer to the Air Service were re-
ceived, and on the 1 5th he left for Saint-Cyr to begin his training. Thaw was
worried, so back he went to the Escadrille D. 6, a thirty-two kilometer hike.
That he actually walked this distance is, to those who know Thaw's love of
less exhausting modes of travel, sufficient comment on his determination
to become a military aviator. He again talked with Lieutenant Brocard, a
courteous gentleman and always a loyal friend of the American volunteers,
who assured him that the orders for his own transfer to Aviation were on the
way. They came on December 24, 1914, together with a message from Lieu-
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WILLIAM THAW
tenant Brocard saying that Thaw was to be attached to the Squadron D. 6,
where he was to begin his war-time flying as a soldat-mitrailleur. In those
days, however, "machine-gunner" was a misnomer. The weapons carried
were carbines and automatic pistols, and the fighting, although tremen-
dously exciting, was nothing like so deadly as it became later on.
Raids and reconnaissances over enemy territory were interesting enough
as observer and gunner; but Thaw was eager to become a pilot. His pre-war
experience had been only with Curtiss hydroplanes, but he succeeded in con-
vincing the French Service Aeronautique that he could pilot any kind of
machine. He was sent to Saint-Cyr where French eleves-pilotes were learning to
fly the old Caudron, type G. 2. Although he had never before seen this craft,
he was put on solo flying at once. He trained at Saint-Cyr, Buc, and later at
Le Bourget, which was then a modest
school of four hangars and a couple
of Adrien barracks. Having mastered
the G. 2, which was the fastest com-
bat machine the French had, he
spent his time in making flights with
officers who were training to be aero-
plane observers.
It was about the 20th of March,
191 5, that he learned from Norman
Prince of the plans for the formation
of a squadron of American pilots.
French squadrons then had a flying
personnel of six and there were al-
ready more than that number of
Americans available. Thaw disclaims
any credit for having furthered the
project. On the contrary, according
to his own testimony, he was very
lukewarm, for he had already finished
his training and was about to return
to the Front, this time as a pilot.
He received orders to join the other
Americans at Pau, but, instead, he
went to the French Ministry of War THAW WITH THE escadrille c. 42 at lun£-
wchl L<J wc x icii^ii XVX1H101.1J v/i m«i VILLE, JUNE. 1915. WATCHING
and requested that he be sent to a German plane
the Front at once. The request was
granted, and on March 26, 191 5, he was ordered to the French Squadron
C. 42 (Captain Delaney commanding) operating from Nancy and later from
Luneville. He was made a Sergent on May 18 and in the same month was
cited once in divisional and twice in army orders.
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WILLIAM THAW
Norman Prince and Elliot Cowdin were sent to the Front as pilots in a
Voisin squadron. Other Americans were either at the Front or in training
and the plans for an Escadrille Americaine were well under way. While the
last formalities were being arranged, Thaw, who of course approved of the
idea, and had later given it his active support, was transferred to the Esca-
drille N. 65 with Cowdin, and served with this squadron while awaiting the
other Americans. On April 15, 1916, orders came for all the Americans to
proceed to Luxeuil, and on April 20, the pilots of the Escadrille Americaine
assembled for active duty.
These are the facts, in briefest outline, of William Thaw's service pre-
vious to the formation of the Escadrille Lafayette. No airman of whatever
nationality has had a broader expe-
rience in the Great War than he. He
is the only member of the original
squadron of volunteers who served
with it throughout the entire pe-
riod of its existence. He has flown
and fought in every type of aircraft
which has been used for combat in
the French Service and was probably
the first pilot in that Service to fly
the twin-motor Caudron at the Front.
He has potted at enemy machines
with rifles, revolvers, rockets, and
machine guns, and lost count long
ago of his combats and his total hours
of flight au-dessus des lignes ennemies.
It is no exaggeration to say that he
has had, at least once, every con-
ceivable kind of aerial experience,
including that of being wounded. He
was shot through the forearm during
a combat on May 24, 191 6.
His record of service is not to
be estimated by his score of official
WILLIAM THAW AFTER HIS COMBAT OF • «. • p i.' i , *.!_•• ^ •
may 24. 1916 victories. Creditable as this is, it is
nothing like so great as those of some
other Allied airmen with fewer service stripes. William Thaw's first interest
was always in the victories of his pilots, and he worked harder for their
successes than for his own. As a Squadron Commander, he was without a
peer. Even as "Major Bill," when he might have rested "tranquille" as the
French say, he still led his pilots on patrol. Patrol, under his leadership,
meant combat, and under the most favorable conditions for victory. He
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WILLIAM THAW
fought with his head as well as with his nerve. Few men knew better how
to maneuver for position and the precise second when to attack.
Lufbery and Thaw — "Luf " and "Bill" — one thinks of them together,
for they were the soul of the Escadrille Lafayette. Many a green pilot had his
first combat in company with one or the other of them. To see Thaw's big
"T" or Lufbery's Swastika on the wings of a neighboring plane was always
a heartening sight when there were enemy machines in the vicinity. And how
THAW BUILDING A BOAT FROM AN AEROPLANE FUSELAGE, DUNKIRK. 1918
those young airmen kept the insignia in view until they had mastered their
combat tactics! On the ground and in the mess, during times of great nerve-
strain, Thaw was a tonic for all his pilots. He was never flustered, never
frightened, never excited. And when, as frequently happened, the Squadron
was lying opposite the Richtofen crowd, and getting as good as it sent in the
matter of machine-gun fire in combat, he was always cheery and cool and
made his men believe, often against their better judgment, that, as a squad-
ron, they could give "the circus" odds in engine power and altitude, and
still fight it to a standstill.
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SERVICE RECORD
Clifton B. Thompson, . Hyde Park, Massachu-
setts.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: Juneuo, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 18, 1917, to January 13,
1918, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 30, 19 17 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 99, January 15 to
May 28, 191 8.
Final Rank : Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant, May 28, 1918.
At the Front: Attached to the French Squadron,
Spad 99, May 28, 191 8, to
Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
CITATION
Le 22 f'evrier, 1919
Le Colonel Commandant la i* re Division
Aerienne cite a l'Ordre de la Division:
Thompson, Clifton, M ,e 12252, Sous-
Lieutenant de TArmee Americaine, Pilote
Aviateur
Excellent pilote, consciencieux et discipline. Engage volontaire dans TArmee francaise.
Depuis plus d'un an dans Taviation, y fait preuve d'un courage toujours egal et du plus
bel esprit du devoir. Volontaire pour toutes les missions perilleuses et toujours plein d'al-
lant au combat, s'est distingue notamment le 5 novembre, 191 8, au cours d'une reconnais-
sance au ras du sol en attaquant successivement a la mitrailleuse deux convois d'artillerie
ennemie.
(Signe) Vaulgrenant
CLIFTON B. THOMPSON
NO American was ever more loved by his French comrades than
"Tommy" Thompson. His twinkling eyes, his infectious grin, and
constant readiness for a joke were always irresistible; officers with
many rows of stripes round their hats, before whom Squadron Commanders
paled and trembled, have been known to clap Thompson familiarly on the
back, saying, with a chuckle: "Allons, mon vieux Thompson, (a gaze?"
Before the war Thompson was an intercollegiate cross-country runner of
the first order. On one occasion at the Front his speed and endurance won
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CLIFTON B. THOMPSON
him fame. It was after dinner at the popote, and as the Armistice was being
celebrated, every one had consumed more than the ordinary quantity of
pinard. Talk turned to cross-country running, and Captain Rougevin, who
commanded the Spad 99, began to brag of Thompson's attainments. An
argument ensued which ended in an officer from another squadron offering
to bet fifty louts that Thompson could not run some phenomenal number of
kilometers in an hour. Thompson's comrades took him outside the tent and
inquired earnestly if he really believed he could win the bet. Tommy was
confident, and the officers of Spad 99 staked every sou they could scrape
together on the result. It was a moonlight night and half of Groupe de Combat
20 followed the running on bicycles and in motor-cars. Needless to say,
"Tommy" won easily: a valuable member of the Squadron in more senses
than one.
The Americans of Groupe 20 will never forget his first ground-strafing
expedition. It was in June, 1918, in the small French attack at Ressons-sur-
Matz. After an hour of shooting up everything German in sight, Thompson
returned to find that he had a hole through the fuselage of his machine,
which looked as though a dinner plate had been thrown through it. The
huge eclat had missed the pilot's back by the thickness of a cigarette paper.
On another occasion, in the early part of July, he was on patrol over Sois-
sons, when suddenly, above him, appeared two large patrols of the Richtofen
group. The Spads immediately began to take altitude; but the red-nosed
Fokkers hung above them. Suddenly a German piqued alone — shot two
quick bursts, and two Spads, piloted by comrades of Thompson, went plung-
ing down in flames. Maneuvering wildly and with his plane riddled with bul-
lets, Thompson finally managed to extricate himself from a very bad situa-
tion. On looking around he discovered that he was twenty-five miles into
German territory, and perceived, just ahead of him and following the course
he was forced to take toward the lines, a patrol of Fokker triplanes. Flying
behind and beneath them, his gun hopelessly jammed, Thompson said that
the next two minutes were the longest of his life, but the enemy did not no-
tice him, and he regained our lines in safety.
His record at the Front is a story of faithful and courageous service — of
unabated keenness to fly and to fight, of the moral courage which refuses to
give way to the grief occasioned by the constant loss of comrades-in-arms.
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SERVICE RECORD
Charles Trinkard, Ozone Park, New York.
Previous Service: Foreign Legion (Infantry), August 24, 1914, to March 1, 1917.
Wounded, 1915.
Service in French Aviation:
Date 0} enlistment: March 13, 1917.
Aviation Schools: March 20 to August 30, 1917, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: July 24, 19 17 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille N. 68, September 1 to November 29, 19 17.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Killed in line of duty: November 29, 191 7, near Toul.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
CHARLES TRINKARD
T
N the summer of 1914, Charles
Trinkard, later known to scores
of American volunteers as "Tiny
Trink," worked his way to France on
a cattleboat, and joined the Second
Battalion, Foreign Legion. After al-
most a year in the trenches, he took
part in the first Champagne offen-
sive, in September, 1915, where he
was twice wounded in the right
shoulder by machine-gun fire. After
months in hospital he rejoined the
Legion in time for the battle of the
Somme, coming through this cam-
paign unscathed.
He was transferred to the Lafa-
yette Corps in March, 191 7, and
started his training in French Avia-
tion at Avord. The other American
eleves-pilotes there welcomed him
with great joy, for Trinkard's repu-
tation had preceded him. He was a
rare raconteur, and made life in the
^^l^Z^ll^Z^ AND Legion real to many an American
CHARLKS TRINKARD r • /• 1 i
boy eager to know of it at first hand.
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CHARLES TRINKARD
No dinner at Farges, or the Cafe des Aviateurs, was complete without
"Trink," and when in addition we had Australian Red Luks, ordinary sea-
man and soldier of fortune, to sing his sea chanties and recite original
poetry, rainy afternoons passed happily enough.
After completing his training, Trinkard was sent to the French Squadron,
N. 68, then on the Lorraine Front. He had applied for and had been granted
a month's leave of absence in America, but he delayed accepting it until he
had had further experience at the Front as an airman.
He was killed on Thanksgiving Day, 1917, while doing acrobacy over a
village where his old regiment of Legionnaires were billeted while on repos.
He had just returned from a patrol over the lines with two pilots of his squad-
ron, and knowing that his old comrades were stationed near by, he said Bon-
jour in loops and nose-dives, after the common practice of airmen. He wing-
slipped while making a vertical turn, and being at a low altitude, crashed
into the ground before he could regain flying speed, and was instantly killed.
His former comrades were the first to reach the wrecked machine. One of
them wrote later: "We did not know who had fallen, but when we saw the
khaki uniform and the red fourragere of the Legion, we were mightily
grieved, and the Americans were especially sad, for we all knew Trink and
the splendid work he had done as an infantryman. He did more than his duty
in this war and did it cheerfully."
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SERVICE RECORD
Dudley G. Tucker, New York City.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 9, 19 1 7.
Aviation Schools: May 22, 1917, to January 26,
1918, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 30, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrilles Spad 74 and Spad 15,
January 28 to July 8, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergeni.
Killed in combat: July 8, 19 1 8.
DUDLEY G. TUCKER
Ti
MUCKER'S life, previous to
his enlistment in the Lafa-
ette Flying Corps, was of
exceptional interest. He was business
manager of the Washington Square
Players, and in the winter of 1917
was on his way to China and Japan
to study the theater in the Orient.
Traveling by way of Panama with
Austen Parker, it was decided to
stop over a steamer at that place
in order to visit the ancient mines and ruins of Darien. In their wander-
ings through the jungles of the coast the two Americans became hope-
lessly lost and finally emerged at the plantation of a mysterious German,
who, for reasons which were never made clear, kept them practically as pris-
oners for several weeks. Unknown to his unpleasant host, Tucker succeeded
in buying a dugout canoe from some Indians who lived near by in the forest,
and hugging the shore in their fragile vessel he and Parker made the one
hundred and fifty mile voyage to Panama. As war seemed imminent and
they had personal reasons for disapproving of the German race, they decided
to give up the trip to the Orient, took passage to Bordeaux in a Brazilian
steamer, and enlisted in the Lafayette Flying Corps.
At Avord, Tucker inhabited the Hotel Turco, with Parker, Edgar, and
Bluthenthal. They were an interesting lot and their evening conversations
covered many phases of life — sport, travel, journalism, literature, and the
theater.
Tucker left the record, at Avord and at Pau, of a skillful and courageous
pilot and went to the Front on January 28, 191 8, assigned to the Escadrille
Spad 74. Transferring later to the Spad 15, he found himself with Harry
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DUDLEY G. TUCKER
Forster in the Groupe de Combat 13, the famous unit of which the Escadrille
Lafayette formed part. There was heavy fighting to be done on those mem-
orable summer days of 191 8 — all the way from Rheims to Montdidier the
enemy was strong in the air — and the Spad 1 5 was always in the thick of it:
ground-strafing, infantry liaison, balloon attacks, and constant offensive
patrols.
On July 8 Tucker, with four French comrades, was patrolling the Marne
Salient. They were well into the enemy lines in the region of Fismes, and had
noticed German scouts above them, when they saw a strong patrol of a dozen
or more Fokkers diving to attack a pair of French reconnaissance machines
below. Plunging down to the rescue, the pilots of the Spad 15 engaged in a
fast and desperate combat, and when the formation reassembled, ten min-
utes later, Tucker had disappeared.
Several months afterward the Red Cross at Berne received word from
Germany that he was wounded and a prisoner, and repeated messages to the
same effect caused his many friends to expect him in Paris when the prison-
ers were released after the Armistice. But those who awaited his appearance
became increasingly anxious, for he was not among the returning kriegsge-
jangenen. No further word of Tucker has come out of Germany — one can
only hope that he is alive, prevented from communicating with his family by
one of those illogical and unaccountable webs of circumstance which dis-
tinguish real from imaginary life.
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SERVICE RECORD
George Evans Turnure, Jr., Lenox, Massa-
chusetts.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: February 16, 1917.
Aviation Schools: February 25 to July 25, 1917.
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: June 16, 1917 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 103, July 27 to
December 16, 191 7.
Escadrille Lafayette, February 12
to February 18, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: January 2,
1918.
At the Front: 103d Pursuit Squadron, February
18 to August 28, 19 1 8.
Flight Commander, 28th Pursuit
Squadron, August 28, 19 18, to
Armistice.
Decorations:
Legion d J Honneur.
Croix de Guerre, with two Palms and a Star.
CITATIONS
i hn Armee, £tat-Major. Au Q.G.A., le 6 novembre, 191 7
Le General Commandant la i fere Armee cite a TOrdre de TArmee:
Turnure, George, M ,c 41 13 2, Sergent au i cr Regiment fitranger, Pilote a rEscadrille S. 103
Citoyen americain engage dans Paviation avant la declaration de guerre des £tats-Unis.
Pilote de chasse d'un courage et d'un sang-froid remarquables. Le 17 octobre, 191 7, a abattu
un avion ennemi.
(Signs) Anthoine
VI e Armee, Commandant de l'Aeronautique. Q.G., le 29 avril, 191 8
Citation a YOrdre de Y Aeronautique de Y Armee:
Turnure, George Evans, Lieutenant Pilote, Escadrille Americaine N° 103 (Lafayette)
Officier pilote remarquable par son entrain et son audace. Toujours pret a accomplir les
missions les plus perilleuses.
Le 20 avril, a contribue a abattre un avion ennemi.
Le Chef de Bataillon Commandant Y Aeronautique de Y Armee
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GEORGE EVANS TURNURE Jr.
Detachement d'Armee du Nord, £tat-Major. Q'G; k 7 juin, 1918
Le General de Mitry, Commandant le Detachement d'Armee du Nord, cite a l'Ordre de
TArmee:
Le Lieutenant Turnure, George Evans, Pilote a PEscadrille Lafayette
Pilote d'une tenacite admirable. Sans se laisser rebuter par Tinsucces de trois tentatives,
a abattu un drachen en flammes, remportant ainsi sa troisieme victoire.
(Sign?) de Mitry
Grand Quartier G£n£ral des Armees Francaises
de l'Est, £tat-Major. Le 17 mai f 1919
Le Marechal Commandant en Chef les Armees Francaises de l'Est cite a 1' Ordredel' Armee:
Lieutenant Turnure, George Evans
Citoyen americain engage dans la Legion Etrangere. S'est fait remarquer comme pilote a
l'Escadrille Lafayette, par son courage, son audace donnant un tres bel exemple a tous. A
abattu trois appareils ennemis.
(Signe) Petain
Par decret du President de la Republique en date du 9 avril, 1919, le Lieutenant Turnure
a ete promu Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur.
Cet promotion a ete fait avec le motif de ce citation.
GEORGE EVANS TURNURE, Jr.
THE following letter, written to Dr. Gros, is taken from the files of
the Lafayette Flying Corps:
escadrille lafayette
La Ferme de la Noblette, Champagne
February , 191 8
Dear Major Gros:
It seems to me very important that you should have for your records of
the Lafayette Corps an account of a combat in which George Turnure of
Spad 103 took part. It was only by chance that I learned of it, and upon
meeting Turnure recently I asked for details. After an endless amount of
persuasion, I learned theJollowing:
On September 30 (1917) George went on patrol with Adjudant Fonck, the
great French "ace." There were four or five in the patrol at first, but because
of motor trouble the others were compelled to return to the aerodrome, leav-
ing only Adjudant Fonck and Turnure to continue.
They were at an altitude of 6200 meters when they met a German two-
seater which they immediately attacked. Turnure denies having played any
effective part in the combat, although in my opinion there is no doubt that
he kept his Vickers warm. However, he insists that his role was only that of
an admiring spectator of Fonck's superb attack.
Well, Fonck got under the tail of the enemy, gave the pilot the coup de
grace, whereupon the machine turned clean over and started falling out of
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GEORGE EVANS TURNURE, Jr.
control. It crumpled up in the air, most of the wreckage falling near Poper-
inghe in the French lines. The mitrailleur either fell out or jumped, for his
body was found some distance from the remains of the machine.
Both Turnure and Fonck landed near by, and upon examining the papers
in the pockets of the dead Germans they found that the pilot was Cap-
tain Weissmann, the man who had
brought down Captain Guynemer
about two weeks before. This Ger-
man pilot's name had, of course,
been heralded throughout Germany,
and every French and American air-
man on the Flanders Front, where
he was supposed to be flying, was
longing to bring him down.
It is a fact worth recording that
an American pilot, a Lafayette man,
took an active part in this famous
combat. The rest of us Americans
are happy that one of our number
has had such good fortune. Turnure
himself will not give you this infor-
mation, I am afraid, so I have taken
it upon myself to do so.
A great deal more might be said
of George Turnure's record at the
Front, which was excellent through-
out. About two weeks before his
combat while flying with Fonck, he
TURNURE AND JIM THE ANNAMITE h j mself shot down ft German tWQ _
OK.DElv.LY AT A V OKU _ _
seater near Ypres.
After his transfer to the United States Air Service, he was sent to the Es-
cadrille Lafayette, which was about to become the 103d Pursuit Squadron.
On April 20, 1918, in company with Major Thaw, he shot down a German
saucisse, and on June 1, while flying alone, he destroyed another. From
August 20 until the Armistice he was a Flight Commander with the 28th
Pursuit Squadron.
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SERVICE RECORD
Stephen Mitchell Tyson, Princeton, New
Jersey.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1917.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 25, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 6 to December 17, 19 17,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 16, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 85, December 19,
1917, to July 19, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Killed in combat: July 19, 191 8, near Chassins-
Dormans.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATION
Le 13 /win, 1918
Citation d VOrdre de VArmee:
Tyson, Stephen Mitchell, M te 12221, Caporal du i er Regiment fitranger, Pilote
a TEscadrille Spad 85
Pilote americain engage dans Tarmee francaise, toujours volontaire pour les missions dif-
ficiles. A abattu recemment un avion ennemi, le poursuivant jusqu'au sol dans ses lignes.
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STEPHEN MITCHELL TYSON
TYSON went to France at seventeen years of age, and served honora-
bly for six months as an ambulance driver; but disliking the part of
a non-combatant, he applied to enter the Lafayette Flying Corps as
soon as his term of ambulance service was up. Flatly refused because his
weight was fifteen pounds over the maximum, he went to work with de-
termination to reduce, and though it was extremely irksome to his tempera-
ment, he succeeded, after a month of Turkish baths and exercise, in making
the weight. There was a strain of seriousness underlying his irresponsibility;
he wanted to be a fighting pilot and he became one. Tyson was a born flyer;
the air was his element and he loved it as a sailor loves the sea. He flew care-
lessly and naturally as a hawk, man and machine welded into a single swift
and intelligent creature of the skies. Supremely confident, always on the
offensive, and with the born fighter's love of desperate odds, his last combat
was a thing to make every American thrill with pride. It was the 19th of
July, 191 8, and at last the Germans had begun their historic second retreat
from the Marne. At five-thirty in the long summer afternoon Tyson was
beating back and forth at 15,000 feet between Dormans and Chateau-Thi-
erry, with a small patrol of Spads, detailed to protect some photographic
two-seaters. Suddenly, to the northwest of Dormans, they perceived a flight
of eight enemy single-seaters and dove to the attack. As the Germans
would not give battle and headed back into their lines, the French leader
turned to resume his mission of protection, and at that instant Tyson was
seen to detach himself from the patrol and head swiftly after the retreating
Germans. It was over in an instant. As the enemy turned at bay he attacked
them from beneath, one against eight, both guns spitting fire and lead. Next
moment, caught in the concentrated fire of the enemy at point-blank range,
the Spad was seen to veer wildly, whirl downward in a vrille, burst into
flames and explode while still 6000 feet above the earth.
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SERVICE RECORD
William Carey Van Fleet, Jr., San Francisco,
California.
Service in French Aviation :
Date of enlistment: July 21, 1917.
Aviation Schools: July 31, 1917, to June 30, 1918.
Avord, Tours, Pau, Cazeaux,
G.D.E.
Breveted: October 7, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 78, July 1 to Au-
gust 28, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Naval Aviation:
Commissioned Ensign: August 28, 191 8.
At the Front: U.S. Naval Air Station, Dunkirk,
September 1 to 15, 191 8.
Escadrille de Saint-Pol, Septem-
ber 15 to October 30, 1918.
U.S.S. Texas, 6th Battle Squad-
ron, November 4, 1918, to
Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATION
General Headquarters of the French Armies
of the East. January 25, 1919
With the approbation of the Commander-in-Chief of the American Expeditionary Forces in
France, the Marshall of France, Commander-in-Chief of the French Armies of the East,
cites to the Order of the Army:
Airplane Pilot William Van Fleet, Ensign in the U.S. Navy
Displayed a great initiative and courage during numerous pursuit patrols and during
numerous combats which took place inside the enemy lines. On October 14, 191 8, he attacked
a battery of heavy artillery, in retreat, and thus contributed to its capture.
Petain
Commander-in-Chief of the French Armies of the East
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WILLIAM CAREY VAN FLEET, Jr.
BREVETED at Tours on October 7, 1917, Van Fleet's course through
Pau was delayed by illness and he was later a victim of the cold and
living conditions at Le Plessis-Belleville. He did not get to the
Front until July 1, 1918, but while with his squadron, the Spad 78, he
showed himself a skillful and aggressive pilot. In the short time that elapsed
before his transfer to the Navy he had numerous combats and a total of
more than thirty hours over the lines, and when he left, his Captain declared
that the squadron had lost a future "ace."
Before the war Van Fleet had conducted a series of experiments with one-
man submarines and it was natural that he should choose to be a Naval pilot.
He was fortunate after his transfer in being detached to the Escadrille de
Saint-Pol which was equipped with chasse planes and operated in the always
active sector at the northern end of the lines. While with this unit, Van
Fleet was the first American pilot to enter Lille after its delivery by the Al-
lied forces. He will never forget his welcome by the civilian population.
On November 4 Van Fleet was sent with two other pilots to the U.S.S.
Texas of the Grand Fleet, to introduce the English method of flying land
scout machines from the decks of the ship. They practiced this method of
taking off, from both American and British vessels, until after the signing of
the Armistice, and witnessed the surrender of the German fleet.
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SERVICE RECORD
Charles Herbert Veil, East Palestine, Ohio.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: April 12, 1917.
Aviation Schools: May 17 to December 16, 19 1 7,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 20, 19 17 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 150, December 18,
1917, to October 9, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: October 9,
Le General Commandant la IIP Armee cite a l'Ordre dc l'Armee:
Le Sergent Veil, Charles Herbert, M ,e 12173, du Groupe d'Aviation,
Pilote a TEscadrille Spa. 150
Pilote de chasse. A remporte le i cr septembre, 191 8, sa deuxieme victoire en abattant un
monoplace ennemi faisant partie d'une forte patrouille.
VIII e Armee, £tat-Major. Au Q.G.A., le 4 novembre, 191 8
Le General Commandant la VIII e Armee cite a TOrdre de TArmee:
Le Sergent Veil, Charles Herbert, M le 12173, du Groupe de Combat 16,
Escadrille Spa. 150
A abattu le 19 septembre, 191 8, un biplace ennemi aux abordes de Metz.
Le General Commandant la Vlll* Armee
(Signe) Gerard
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CHARLES HERBERT VEIL
VEIL'S career illustrates well the fallacy of making prophecies based
on a man's performance in the schools. During the Bleriot training
he told his comrades frequently that he disliked flying and found it
extremely difficult to learn, but at Pau he seemed to have gotten the knack
of handling the Nieuport, and once on the Front, in Escadrille Spad 150, he
developed into a very skillful combat pilot. Veil served the French well
through most of the heavy fighting of 191 8, and was one of the last Lafayette
A PATROL OF VEIL'S SQUADRON LEAVING THE FIELD
men to transfer to the American army. On June 10, near Noyon, he made a
sortie which came very near to being his last.
The weather was cloudy, and while flying alone, Veil perceived a German
who appeared suddenly beneath him through a hole in the clouds; he dove
without hesitation and had shot one burst, when a patrol of nine Fokkers,
which he had taken for English Dolphins, attacked him, taking him com-
pletely by surprise.
"Nothing remained to do. I entered into their formation; they immedi-
ately scattered and fired on me from all angles. I shot at one which crossed
in front of me as I was making a hurried retreat; he fell to the ground out of
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CHARLES HERBERT VEIL
control on the German front lines. The others followed me down to a very-
low altitude, twenty or thirty feet, and continued firing. I regained our own
lines and had to pull up to make it over the trees, with the machine guns on
me both from the ground and from above. I received five bullets in my pro-
peller, an explosive bullet in the wing, and my machine was so damaged
that it could not be flown again."
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SERVICE RECORD
Benjamin Stuart Walcott, Washington, D.C.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 3, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 3 to October 27, 1917,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 6, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 84, October 29 to
December 12, 191 7.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Killed in combat: December 12, 1917 (Cham-
pagne Sector).
Commissioned First Lieutenant: U.S. Air Serv-
ice. (Commission arrived after his death.)
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
STUART WALCOTT AS fiLfeVE-PILOTE
CITATION
4°* Armee. 23 decembre, 191 7
Citation a VOrdre de V Armee:
Le Caporal Pilote Walcott, Stuart, M k 12200, de l'Escadrille Spa. 84
(i3 e Groupe de Combat)
Americain engage pour la duree de la guerre. Jeune pilote d'un courage et d'un esprit ad-
mirables. Le 12 decembre, 191 7, attaque un appareil ennemi et le poursuit jusqu'a 1500
metres de hauteur et a 4 kilometres dans ses lignes ou il l'abat. Attaque a son tour par trois
monoplaces ennemis, est descendu desempare.
Le General Commandant la 4™ Armee
Gouraud
Delivre par le Marechal de France, Commandant en Chef les Armees de PEst.
P£tain
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BENJAMIN STUART WALCOTT
WALCOTT arrived at Avord, at a time when the Bleriot School was
so crowded with Russians and Americans that progress for most
of us was interminably slow. But he was capable and eager and his
early sorties in pingouin and rouleur convinced the instructors that he could
drive a machine straight on the ground and was ready to begin real flying.
Keen to get to the Front and always ready to do a little more than was asked
STUART WALCOTT Geft) AND EDWARD LOUGHRAN (right) AT LE PLESSIS-BELLEVILLE
of him, he finished the Bleriot training and was breveted six weeks ahead of
his contemporaries — a splendid record. The story was the same at Pau —
Walcott was a man to hold back rather than to push; the instructors in
formation-flying, acrobatics, and combat declared that he was a pilot with
a brilliant future before him.
On October 29, 1917, he was sent to the Front, to the Escadrille Spad 84,
in the same groupe with the Escadrille Lafayette. It was some time before he
was given a machine and allowed to fly over the lines, for the French took all
possible care of their young pilots, and his letters written home at this period
are full of impatience to get into action. In his first and last combat, on De-
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BENJAMIN STUART WALCOTT
cember 12, he exhibited a coolness, a daring, and a determination which, had
he been spared, would have taken him far. Walcott was flying, with a single
French comrade, over the lines to the
right of Rheims, when a German two-
seater crossed to do some reglage. The
Frenchman attacked at once, but
found that his guns were not working
and turned away. The enemy ma-
chine took flight and as the French
pilot headed for the aerodrome, he
saw Walcott, who had followed him
down to the attack, taking altitude
as rapidly as possible — already 3000
feet above him. The final combat was
seen by observers on the ground. Six
minutes later the German returned
to complete his mission, unaware of
the Spad waiting high above. Wal-
cott made a swift attack; the Ger-
man fled with the Spad in hot pur-
suit. After a chase of four kilometers
into enemy territory, the two-seater
was seen to go down in flames, and
the American soared up victoriously,
turning to regain his lines. At that
moment three Albatross single-seat-
stuart w ^^^mtonLs T LEFFIN ' ers > which had a PP roached unseen,
dove down with a prolonged rattle
of machine-gun fire — the Spad wavered, fell out of control, and crashed
to the ground near Saint-Souplet. Walcott was killed, in the exultation of
combat and victory — an heroic end, worthy of a soldier.
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SERVICE RECORD
William E. Wass, Brunswick, Maine.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1917.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 3, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: June 3, 1917, to February 12,
19 1 8, Avord, Pau, Cazeaux,
G.D.E.
Breveted: October 30, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 91, February 15
to November 4, 191 8.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation :
Commissioned First Lieutenant: November 5,
1918.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm and Star.
CITATION
Le 24 avril, 191 8
Citation a VOrdre de VArmee:
Caporal Wass, William, engage dans Pavia-
tion franchise
Pilote nouvellement venu a l'Escadrille.
Fait preuve des plus grandes qualites de
courage et de mordant. Faisant partie d'une
patrouille attaquee par des avions ennemis en nombre superieur, a degage un de ses cama-
rades, en attaquant avec rapidite et decision un appareil ennemi qui a ete vu tombant en vrille.
WILLIAM E. WASS
IT was at Savigny — the pique class presided over by Sergent Moses, that
cautious Peruvian. The Americans loafed disconsolately beneath the
wings of the Bleriots, engaged in the usual afternoon pastime of waiting
for the wind to drop. On the field across the road, the "aces" of Bergada's
advanced pique class were in the air, buzzing up and down the piste at dizzy
altitudes. The manche a vent hung limply from its pole.
Suddenly Wass rose from his place in the shade, strolled over to where
Moses sat and spoke earnestly to the monitor, who began by shaking his
head, and ended with a nod signifying grudging assent. It was enough. Au-
thorized to try the air, Wass strapped on his helmet and climbed into one of
the ancient six-pattes. Next moment he was off: on a sortie which became
[481 ]
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WILLIAM E. WASS
almost legendary among students of the Bleriot. Leaving the ground in a
superb cheval de bois, he banked to the left so steeply that his wing brushed
the grass. By this time the whole class was on its feet — Moses wringing his
hands and eloquent in three languages. Wass now nosed down to gain speed
and pulled up into a formidable chandelle; almost stalled, slipped on his right
wing, did a quarter turn of a spiral,
and came out with his wheels within
a yard of the ground, headed at right
angles to his former course. It was
magnificent acrobacy, but a terrible
thing to watch. Even Chariot, the
living proof of Darwin's theory, who
turned tails at the far end of the field,
was said to have muttered the An-
namite equivalent for 0, la y la! The
remainder of the flight is a blurred
memory, like a nightmare; at length
Wass landed and announced that the
air was excellent — not a bump !
"Afon vicux" said Moses, very sol-
emnly, "go at once to Bergada's
class; I will not have you killed in
mine. You others — rentrez Us ap-
pareils!"
Although he developed into a first-
class pilot, his friends . thought that
a special Providence watched over
Wass. Once at the Front, with his
wrapped gracefully around a tree guns jammed and hemmed in by a
large patrol of Fokkers, his engine
failed only a few hundred feet above a forest. Redressing high over the trees,
he folded his arms and waited. Five minutes later he awoke from a refresh-
ing sleep — some distance from his machine, which was wrapped gracefully
around a tree. Needless to say that he survived the war and shot down his
share of enemy machines.
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SERVICE RECORD
William A. Wellman, Cambridge, Massachu-
setts.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 13, 19 17.
Aviation Schools: June 29 to December 1, 191 7,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 29, 19 1 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 87, December 3,
1917, to March 14, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with two Palms.
CITATIONS
Le 6 mars, 191 8
Citations a VOrdre de VArmee:
Le Caporal Wellman, William Augustus,
M lc 12274, du i cr Regiment de la Legion
fitrangere, Pilote a l'Escadrille N. 87
Americain engage a la Legion fitrangere, se
distingue comme un pilote de chasse remarqua-
ble par son ardeur et son courage. Le 19 Jan-
vier abattu un avion ennemi qui s'est ecrase
au sol, pres du Bois du Mant de la Croix.
Le 23 mars, 191 8
Le pilote americain, M. de Logis, Wellman, William Augustus
Pilote de chasse, montrant les plus belles qualites d'audace. Le 20 Janvier, ayant pris un
biplace ennemi en chasse au-dessus Nancy, le poursuivit jusqu'a sur son terrain a plus de
25 kilometres dans les lignes, mitraillant a bout portant les hangars et tuant le pilote.
Le 10 fevrier mitraille a faible altitude un terrain d'aviation ennemi. Le 9 mars abat un
biplace ennemi de reglage dans la region de P (2 avions ennemi, homologue) et presque
immediatement apres abat un des monoplaces ennemis d'escorte.
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WILLIAM AUGUSTUS WELLMAN
WELLMAN, with Hitchcock, was sent from the G.D.E. to Spad 87,
then stationed at Luneville. They were a wild pair, and within a
few weeks had shattered the dreamy life of the German squadrons
stationed opposite. The sector cov-
ered by the N. 87 extended from
the Vosges toPont-a-Mousson, and
since the beginning of the war it had
been one of the quietest portions of
the Front. When a French machine
crossed the lines to do a little reglage,
the Germans took great care not to
be in the vicinity, and when occa-
sionally a Rumpler came over very
high to photograph, the French, hav-
ing nothing to conceal, paid little
attention. But Wellman and Hitch-
cock loved fighting for the sport of
it, flew constantly, and used their
wits in every possible way to get
near the enemy.
Their most sensational exploit be-
came proverbial among American
pilots; for they chased a German
two-seater to its aerodrome, many
miles behind the lines, followed it
to the ground, through a storm of
bullets from protecting machine
wellman and judd at avord gunS) an d circled the field en rase-
motte, sending soldiers, mechanics,
and pilots in a mad scramble for shelter.
Wellman was a fearless and clever pilot and an excellent shot. In the short
time he was at the Front he gained three official victories. When finally his
health gave way and he was invalided out of the Army, his squadron lost a
valuable pilot, and a comrade of whom every one had grown fond.
[484]
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SERVICE RECORD
Frank W. Wells, Syracuse, New York.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: January 6, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: January 12 to August 4, 191 7,
Buc, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: May 10, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 93, August 6 to
December 23, 1 91 7.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: January 3, 1918.
Brevet Monitor, American A.I.C., Tours, Jan-
uary 10 to June 17, 1918.
Supply Officer and Test Pilot, Wilbur Wright
Field, Dayton, Ohio, July 15, to Armistice.
[485]
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FRANK W. WELLS
FRANK WELLS proved to many of the less confident men how easy it
was to deal with a voluble French moniteur on a strictly English-
speaking basis. Many an instructor in the aviation schools has been
wearied into silence or flattered into liking by his assumption that they un-
derstood perfectly his- explanations in English of wild sorties or breaches of
discipline de piste. Without a word of their language, he made innumerable
friends among his French comrades wherever he went. He was always en-
tirely at home with them, wholly unconscious of the language barrier, and as
warmly liked by the mecaniciens of his squadron as by the pilots themselves.
The adventure at the Front most nearly fatal to him happened during the
late summer of 1917, when Spad 93 was at the aerodrome at Souilly on the
Verdun Sector. Reprisal and counter-reprisal raids were being made on avia-
tion fields all along that part of the Front. Wells scorned bomb-proof shelters
until once, during a night bombardment, a German pilot made a direct hit
upon an Adrien barrack at Souilly, killing and wounding a dozen or more
men. Wells himself was slightly wounded by flying splinters, but carried on
with patrol work as usual the following day.
Upon his transfer to United States Aviation he was sent to the American
Training Center at Tours as brevet pilot. He loved discipline and became a
semi-benevolent despot to the American cadets who were under his eye during
their final flying tests. Stern of aspect and with a dry and somewhat caustic
humor, he was openly feared and secretly liked by all of them. On June 25,
he was sent on duty to the United States, acting as Supply Officer and Test
Pilot at Wilbur Wright Field until after the Armistice.
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SERVICE RECORD
Herman Whitmore, Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 13, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: June 21, 191 7, to March 22,
1918, Avord, Pau, Cazeaux,
G.D.E.
Breveted: October 30, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 77, March 24 to
April 6, 1918.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Shot down in combat: April 6, 19 18, near Mont-
didier.
Prisoner in Germany until the Armistice.
HERMAN WHITMORE
WHEN Whitmore was shot down and captured only a short time
after his arrival at the Front, the Lafayette Flying Corps lost a
man who certainly would have added to its laurels. All through
the schools he gave promise of a brilliant future, handling a machine as
though the air were his proper element. Shot down in one of his first combats,
he showed his mettle by bringing down an Albatross in flames before his own
machine fell out of control.
While in Germany he made several attempts to escape, but his luck was
bad, and he did not return to France until after the Armistice.
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SERVICE RECORD
John Joyce Whitmore, New York City.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: February 8, 19 1 7.
Aviation Schools: February 25 to November 22,
1917, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 3, 1917 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 315, November 24,
1917, to February 5, 1918.
Escadrille Spad 314, May 13 to
May 23, 1918.
Released: June 19, 191 8, because of injuries re-
ceived in service.
Final Rank: Sergent.
JOHN JOYCE WHITMORE
WHITMORE was seriously injured in an accident soon after be-
ginning his training at the Bleriot School, and was compelled to
spend many weeks in hospital at the best season for flying of the
year. When he returned to duty, Bleriot training had been discontinued, so
that he had to begin again at the beginning, and learn to fly a Caudron.
During his three months at the Front he was severely handicapped by his
old injuries, and at last found it necessary to accept his release from French
Aviation. His career as a combat pilot, which was cut short through no fault
of his own, illustrates the haphazardness of aerial fortune which has pre-
vented a large number of Lafayette Corps men from fulfilling their expecta-
tions of service in the war.
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SERVICE RECORD
Charles Herbert Wilcox, Pasadena, California.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: February 8, 1917.
Aviation Schools: February 10 to July 16, 19 17,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: May 31, 1917 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 80, July 18, 1917,
to January 18, 1918.
Escadrille Lafayette, January 25
to February 18, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: January 9, 1918.
At the Front: 103d Pursuit Squadron, February
18 to June 18, 1918.
On duty in America: June 25, 1918, to Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre ', with two Palms and Star.
CITATIONS
Q.G.A. 9 le 30 avrily 1918
6 e Armee, £tat-Major.
Citation a VOrdre de V Armee:
M. Wilcox, Charles Herbert, Lieutenant,
Pilote a TEscadrille Americaine N° 103
(Lafayette)
Officier pilote remarquable par son audace et son entrain. Le 23 avril, a abattu un avion
ennemi - (Signe) Duchene
D.A.N. Commandement de l'Aeronautique.
En vertue des pouvoirs qu'il tient de Instruction du 11 fevrier, 1918, le Chef d'Escadron
Commandant PAeronautique du D.A.N, cite a l'Ordre de TAeronautique les militaires
dont les noms suivent: . . .
Wilcox, Charles Herbert, Lieutenant, Pilote a l'Escadrille Americaine N° 103
(Lafayette)
Faisant partie d'une patrouille qui a abattu un avion ennemi, le 21 mai, 1918.
Le Chef (TEscadron Commandant V Aeronautique
Morisson
Grand Quartier General des Armies du
Nord et du Nord-Est, £tat-Major. Le 30 octobre, 191 8
Apres approbation du General Commandant en Chef les Forces Expeditionnaires Americaines
en France, le General Commandant en Chef les Armees Francaises du Nord et du Nord-
Est cite a l'Ordre de TArmee:
Lieutenant Wilcox, Charles Herbert, Pilote a TEscadrille 103
Officier remarquable par son audace et sa tenacite. Le 9 juin, 191 8, a abattu son troisieme
avion ennemi.
Le General Commandant en Chef
(Signe) Petain
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CHARLES HERBERT WILCOX
CHARLES H. WILCOX, who was among the earliest of the 1917
volunteers, completed his period of training without any of those
bizarre accidents which happened to so many inexperienced flyers.
Steady nerves and an even temperament served him well and gained for him
good notes from all of his moniteurs. He was sent to the Front as a pilot of
the French Squadron, Spad 80, the escadrille of Paul Baer, C. J. Coatsworth,
and Walter Rheno. The four Americans who flew together frequently had
many exciting adventures over the Verdun Sector during the summer of
1917, and a hard race for the first official victory which fell to Rheno. Wilcox
and Baer, old flying partners in the schools, had an odd similarity of experi-
ence at the Front, so that they are always spoken of together at the gather-
ings of Lafayette men. Both were keen pilots, eager to get results. Both did
their work well, taking much more than their allotted share of patrol duty
for the sake of the experience which it brought; and for more than six months
both fought battles without the fine incentive which an actual verified suc-
cess brings to a pilot. Americans who met them occasionally at Bar-le-Duc,
the old rendezvous for airmen on the Verdun Front, will remember their dis-
gust at their ill-fortune. All of the Germans they attacked carried sky-hooks.
They declined to fall even though riddled with bullets. Their motors were
armor-plated and their gas tanks indestructible, in so far as the experience
of Pilots Wilcox and Baer was concerned.
Evidently all that was needed was transfer to the United States Air
Service. Both men were sent to the 103d Pursuit Squadron, formerly the
Escadrille Lafayette. They were in fact sent to this unit while it was still
under French orders. By May 22, Baer had become an "ace" and on June
9, Wilcox shot down his third enemy plane. He, too, would undoubtedly have
been counted among the "aces" had he been permitted to remain on active
duty in France. He had thoroughly mastered his combat tactics, and had
become a Flight Leader of first-rate ability. Unfortunately, and to his own
bitter disappointment, he was sent to America at a time when he was best
qualified for service at the Front, and from July 1 until the Armistice, he was
employed as a flying instructor at various aviation schools in the United
States.
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SERVICE RECORD
Marcellus Edward Wild, Rochester, New York.
Previous Service: Norton-Harjes Ambulance,
1916-17.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: March 29, 1917.
Aviation Schools: April 13 to October 18, 1917,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: August 24, 1 91 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 15, October 20,
1917, to March 30, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Naval Aviation:
Commissioned Ensign: May, 191 8.
Instructor at U.S.N.A.S., Pensacola, Florida,
until the Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
MARCELLUS EDWARD WILD
WILD was one of the hun-
dred and more Americans
who joined the Lafayette
Corps in the spring and early sum-
mer of 1917. The Avord School was internationalized in those days. Beside
the Frenchmen and the Americans, there were Russians, Portuguese, Monte-
negrins, Belgians — eleves-pilotes from all Allied countries with the excep-
tion of Great Britain and her colonies. The Bleriot was then being discarded
for the more practical and rapid double-command Caudron, and Wild was
one of the fortunate ones who served his early apprenticeship on both types
of machines. He went on active duty as a member of the famous French
Squadron, Spad 15, of Groupe de Combat 13, under the command of Com-
mandant Fequant, and gained his first knowledge of actual war flying during
the French offensive, along the Chemin des Dames, of October, 1917. He
spent the winter on the Champagne Front, patrolling the lines from Rheims
to the Argonne Forest, preparing himself in the most practical way for his
later service with the United States Naval Air Forces. In the spring of 191 8
he was sent home on sick-leave, and while in the United States was assigned
to duty at the U.S.N.A.S. at Pensacola, Florida. He remained at this station
as an instructor until the close of the war.
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SERVICE RECORD
George Gale Willard, Chicago, Illinois.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 26, 19 17.
Aviation Schools: June 12 to December 24, 191 7,
Avord, Juvisy, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: November 1, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 157, December 26,
I9i7» to January 13, 1918.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant: March 19,
1918.
Air Guard of Paris: March 19 to July 2, 1918.
At the Front: 147th Pursuit Squadron, July 2,
19 1 8, to Armistice.
GEORGE GALE WILLARD
BREVETED on Caudron at Juvisy, Willard got to the Front on De-
cember 26, 1917, when he was sent to the Escadrille N. 157. Eighteen
days later he was taken seriously ill and, much to his disgust, it was
necessary to sent him to hospital. On March 19, 191 8, he was transferred to
the United States Air Service, and assigned to an American squadron en-
gaged in the defense of Paris. His friends, who dropped in at Le Bourget at
this period, will remember Willard's impatience in being detained at what he
considered an embusque job, and his fear that the war might be over before
he could get to the Front again. On July 2, when he was sent to join the
147th Pursuit Squadron, there was still plenty of fighting left to be done,
and Willard has had all the adventures the air has to offer — ground-straf-
ing, balloon attacks, aerial editions of the "Philadelphia Free for All" — at
Chateau-Thierry, Saint-Mihiel, and in the Argonne.
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SERVICE RECORD
Harold Buckley Willis, Boston, Massachusetts.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 1915-
16.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: May 22, 191 6.
Aviation Schools: June 30, 1916, to February 28,
19 1 7, Buc, Avord, Cazeaux,
Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 20, 191 6 (Bleriot).
At the Front: Escadrille Lafayette, March 1 to
August 18, 1917.
Shot down in combat: Near Dun-sur-Meuse, Au-
gust 18, 1917.
Prisoner in Germany until October 13, 191 8.
Escaped into Switzerland. October 13, 19 18.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Decorations:
Medaille Militaire.
Croix de Guerre, with two Palms and Star.
CITATIONS
En Campagne le 5 octobre, 191 8
Citation a VOrdre du Service de Sante de la
73 e Division:
Willis, Harold B., Conducteur a la
S.S.A.A.
A toujours fait preuve d'un courage et d'une hardiesse dignes des plus grands eloges; notam-
ment pendant Tattaque du 4 juillet s'offrit pour aller chercher des blesses dans un endroit
tres perilleux, et eut sa voiture criblee d'obus.
Le Medecin Principal de 2 me Classe
(Signe) Vielo
2 C Armee, £tat-Major.
Le General Commandant la 2 e Armee cite a l'Ordre de P Armee:
Willis, Harold Buckley, Sergent-Pilote de L'Escadrille N. 124, G.C. 13
(mort en combat)
Citoyen americain, engage au service de la France. Veritable modele pour ses camarades
d'escadrille par son courage et sa haute conception du devoir. A fourni par ses reconnais-
sances de nombreux et utiles renseignements. Est tombe le 18 aout au cours d'un combat
contre deux avions ennemis qui venaient attaquer des avions de bombardement qu'il es-
cortait.
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HAROLD BUCKLEY WILLIS
THE names of Harold Willis and James Bach are linked together in
Lafayette Corps history. It was Bach's unsought-for distinction to
be the first man in the Corps to be taken prisoner, and Willis's to be
the first in the Escadrille Lafayette. Bach's was the greater misfortune, for
he was a captive from September 23, 191 5, until the close of the war, after
having served at the Front less than a month. Willis was not captured until
three years later, and at that time he had behind him six months of ambu-
lance service, and more than five months of combat patrols with Spad 124.
The story of the battle which ended his career as an airman may best be told
in his own words, which are copied from a letter written from a Westphalian
prison camp:
"This is the first chance I have had to write you a long letter. I have
heard nothing from the outside yet, but am hopeful. Hope is all that keeps
us going. I will tell you how I happened to be the first in the Escadrille to be
taken alive — a dubious distinction. We were protecting a group of bomb-
ing planes on a daylight raid some distance in enemy territory. Suddenly we
were attacked by a rather energetic patrol of monoplaces, and a general
mix-up ensued. One of our planes in front of me was attacked, and I was able
to 'crock' the German — short-lived satisfaction. The monoplace was pro-
tected by two others, which in turn attacked me from behind, riddling my
machine. To continue in a straight line was fatal. So I did a renversement and
attacked — my only defense.
"Immediately, of course, I was separated from our group, which con-
tinued. It would not have been so bad had my motor not been touched at
the first volley. It worked only intermittently, causing loss of height. We
had a wild fight almost to the ground. I did all sorts of stunts to avoid fire on
the line of flight. The enemy flew well. We missed collision twice by inches.
I was badly raked by cross-fire; music of bullets striking motor and cables.
Toward the end my wind-shield was shattered and my goggles broken by a
ball, which slightly stunned me. I had an awful feeling of despair at the
thought of the inevitable landing in Germany. As I neared the ground, I had
an instant's desire to dive into it — saw a wood in front of me, jumped it,
and landed instinctively on the crest of a hill. One of the Germans flew over
me, waved his hand, turned, and landed, followed by his two comrades.
"All saluted very politely as they came up — young chaps, perfectly cor-
rect. My machine was a wreck; thirty bullets in the fuselage, motor, and
radiator, exactly half of the cables cut, tires punctured, and wings riddled.
It was a beautiful machine and had always served me well. Too bad !
"The aviators took me to lunch at their quarters, where I awaited a motor
which took me to a prison in a fortress. One always expects to be either
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HAROLD BUCKLEY WILLIS
killed or wounded — never taken. So I had left the ground in two sweaters,
no coat, and with no money. Confess I cried like a baby when I was finally
alone in my cell. The first three days were terrible. One is not glad to be alive,
especially when one wakes, forgets for a moment where one is, and then re-
members. Pleasantest are the nights, for one always has vivid dreams of
home or the Front. You can understand how wearing it is, to be helpless — a
sort of living corpse — when there is need of every one. I try not to think
of it."
His chief occupation, like that of all prisoners, was in hoarding and con-
cealing food from an all-too-limited ration supply, making compasses, tran-
OFFICERS' PRISON CAMP, KARLSRUHE, BADEN
scribing maps from some priceless original, smuggled in, perhaps, under a
piece of adhesive tape, stuck on the bottom of some fellow prisoner's foot.
He was transferred from Karlsruhe, in Baden, to Landshut, in Bavaria, to
Gutersleh, in Westphalia — other camps too numerous to mention. He was
confined in ancient fortresses with walls yards thick, and windows checkered
with iron bars, almost fly-proof in mesh; in open camps of wooden barracks,
surrounded by alternate defenses of barbed wire and too watchful sentries.
Wherever they went, monomaniacs of Willis's restless, liberty-loving nature,
plotted incessantly. They nursed their fixed idea under the most adverse of
circumstances, and brought plot after plot to the proof of trial. Some of these
plans failed; others were successfully carried out, and the prisoners recap-
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HAROLD BUCKLEY WILLIS
tured on the long tramp to the border. This was Willis's fate on three occa-
sions.
His last attempt gained him his freedom. The escape was made from the
camp at Villingen, Baden, the nearest to the Swiss border of all German
prisons. The large arc lamps which flooded the prison grounds with brilliant
light were short-circuited, just as the guard was changing. Willis and his
fellow prisoners crossed the inner barriers of the camp by various means : one
group on a flimsy bridge made of the small pine boards of Red Cross food
boxes; another on scaling ladders. Willis, dressed like a camp guard and car-
rying a wooden gun, rushed out with the sentinels when the alarm was
sounded, and escaped in the darkness under a heavy but widely scattered
rifle fire. In company with Lieutenant Isaacs, U.S.N., he reached the Rhine,
swam it at night, and arrived at Paris in good time to witness the wild demon-
stration of Armistice night. One can realize, in a measure, what his happiness
must have been during that last month of the war, his pleasure in the simple
comforts of life, the zest with which he ate his food, the pure joy of breath-
ing free air. Those of us who saw him in Paris at that time will not forget
how supremely content he was with everything. A walk along the boulevards
from the Place de la Concorde to the Opera was, for him, a magnificent
treat. He saw everything with unaccustomed eyes. We envied him his fresh
viewpoint; and now that he was safely home, we envied him his experience
as well.
To be sure, being a prisoner of war, he missed some of the outward re-
wards of service. At the time when he fell within the German lines, he had
just been proposed by Commandant Fequant, of Groupe de Combat 13, for
the rank of Sous-Lieutenant in the French army — no mean distinction and
one rarely awarded to foreigners. And in view of his prospective transfer to
the American Service, he had likewise been proposed for the rank of Major
in the U.S.A.S. Both of these honors would have been his had he not been
captured. But a new, keenly active sense of the joy of personal liberty, is far
more than compensation for all the braid, gold or black, in Paris.
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SERVICE RECORD
Joseph Volney Wilson, Wheeling, West Virginia.
Previous Service: Norton-Harjes Ambulance,
1917.
Service in French Aviation:
Date oj enlistment: July 21, 19 1 7.
Aviation Schools: August 3 to November 19,
1917, Avord, Tours, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 25, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Br. 117, November 21,
1917, to January 16, 1918.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: January 16,
1918.
At the Front: Attached to French Squadron, Br.
117, January 16 to July 1, 1918.
Instructor at American A.I.C.,
Clermont-Ferrand, July 1 to
September 30, 19 18.
163d Day Bombing Squadron,
September 30 to October 23,
1918.
Killed in line of duty: October 23, 1918, at
Delouze.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
CITATION
G.A.R. AEronautique Militaire, Escadre 12. Le 2 avril, 191 8
Le Chef d'Escadron, Vuillemin, Commandant de TEscadre de Bombardement N° 12, cite
a TOrdre de TEscadre les militaires dont les noms suivent: . . .
Le i er Lieutenant, Pilote de TArmee Americaine, Wilson, Joseph Volney (Active Legion
fitrangere), detache a TEscadrille Br. 117
Officier americain d'un courage remarquable. Dans la journee du 5 fevrier, 191 8, a contribue
a abattre un avion ennemi, lors d'une expedition de bombardement sur un objectif eloigne.
(Signe) Vuillemin
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JOSEPH VOLNEY WILSON
WILSON, leaving the Ambulance Service in the spring of 1917, im-
mediately joined the Lafayette Flying Corps, and was breveted at
Tours in September. His varied training included Bleriot, G. 4 and
G. 3 Caudron, Nieuport, and Breguet. He went to the Front in November
with but thirty hours of school flying registered in his carnet de vol.
Being assigned to Escadrille 117, of Day-Bombing Group 5, Wilson was
given for an observer a sous-officier who thought his mission in life was to
shoot down Germans. Wilson being in sympathy with the idea, these two
were always in trouble, and never a scrap but they managed to be about
somewhere. Twice Wilson came back over his lines with a motor badly dam-
aged by bullets. He and his observer could not understand the use of defen-
sive formations. Few battles were to be had by following such tactics. In
March, 191 8, Wilson had a panne in, or rather over, Germany, and started
for home with a dead motor. On the way, two Albatross single-seaters ap-
peared. One of them was shot down by Wilson's observer, and the other,
Wilson, with no motor, dodged all the way back to the lines. Later in the
spring he was cited for more low bombing over Chateau-Thierry when it was
the business of the Air Force to destroy bridges over the Marne. For this
work he was also proposed for the American D.S.C. and a Squadron Com-
mander's duty. About this time he was sent back to Clermont-Ferrand as an
instructor in bombing, and remained there until September, when he went
back to the Front with Charles Kinsolving to organize the 163d American
Squadron.
During the German advance upon Amiens, he participated in a great deal
of the "strafing" work on the advancing German troops, flying low along the
roads, scattering troop columns and transport. After this experience, he
came back to Paris with a well-thought-out plan for armoring the Breguet
plane. He presented his scheme to the Technical Section of the Air Service,
and was perfecting his armored seat at the time of his death. In October
he fell while testing a D.H. 4, and was instantly killed. One of the oldest
American pilots, and with Kinsolving the oldest American bomber, his loss
was greatly felt. He is buried at Gondrecourt, near Roger Clapp, who was
his flying partner in the old days of French Aviation.
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SERVICE RECORD
Alan F. Winslow, River Forest, Illinois.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 10, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: July 19 to December 24, 19 1 7,
Avord, Juvisy, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: October 12, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 152, December 24,
1917, to February 12, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Second Lieutenant: February 20,
1918.
At the Front: 94th Pursuit Squadron, April 1 to
July 31, 1918.
Wounded in combat: July 31, 191 8.
Prisoner in Germany until the Armistice
Decorations:
Distinguished Service Cross.
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATIONS
The Distinguished Service Cross is awarded to
Second Lieutenant Alan F. Winslow, 94th Aero Squadron, A.S.
For extraordinary heroism in action in the Toul Sector on June 6, 191 8. While on a patrol
consisting of himself and two other pilots, he encountered a biplace enemy plane at an altitude
of 5000 meters, near Saint-Mihiel. He promptly and vigorously attacked, and after a running
fight extending far beyond the German lines, shot his foe down in flames near Thiaucourt.
VIII e Armee. Le 16 avril, 1918
Citation a VOrdre de V Armee:
Sous-Lieutenant Alan Winslow, de TArmee Americaine, Pilote a l'Escadrille 94
Remarquable pilote de chasse. Le 14 avril a abattu un avion ennemi dans nos lignes apres
un combat aussi rapide que brillant.
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I
ALAN F. WINSLOW
N the files at Dr. Gros's office in Paris may be found the following letter,
written by Alan Winslow shortly before his transfer to the United
States Air Service:
Dear Major Gros,
Please consider my letter of yesterday as hasty. I do not wish to join
Naval Aviation and shall cancel the application there. I would not have hesi-
tated to accept an Army commission as First Lieutenant. I was, however, a
bit rumpled on receiving a Second. But if I am not a good-enough sport and
American to take what is given me, I am no good at all. Therefore I wish to
accept my Second Lieutenancy in the Army.
This letter is typical of Alan Winslow's spirit as a sportsman and a sol-
dier. His disappointment at receiving a Second Lieutenancy was wholly
reasonable. He was a trained pilot and had had already two months of serv-
ice at the Front in a French squadron. Many airmen in America who had
never seen France were being commissioned as First Lieutenants, Captains,
and Majors. Alan was not the only pilot in France who felt "a bit rumpled "
at receiving a gold bar. But he preferred being at the Front as a buck priv-
ate, if need be, to any possible reward of rank, and he arrived there as Capo-
ral Pilote of Spad 152 the day before Christmas, 1917.
After his transfer to the United States Air Service, he was placed on active
duty with the 94th Aero Squadron, the first combat unit which had been al-
ways American to be sent to the Front. The Escadrille Lafayette was, of
course, the first squadron in the American Service; but it had previously
been French, and even after it became the 103d American Squadron, it was
for some time attached to a French groupe de combat under French orders.
On April 14, 1918, the morning of the 94th's first day of service on the
Front, Alan Winslow and Douglas Campbell started the ball rolling for
American Aviation by shooting down two enemy single-seaters, almost over
the Squadron Aerodrome at Toul. Without question this battle is the most
spectacular in the history of the American Air Service. There was a strong
northeast wind blowing, with heavy clouds at 300 to 500 meters. The first
flight of the Squadron was on alette duty at the hangars, but on account of
the threatening weather it seemed likely that there would be nothing to do.
The telephone rang: "Enemy machines heard in the vicinity of Toul."
Winslow and Campbell immediately went up in pursuit and were just leav-
ing the ground when the German planes, an Albatross and a Pfalz, single-
seaters, emerged from the clouds not 200 meters distant.
The combat was of less than three minutes' duration. Winslow forced his
German to the ground, where the enemy machine turned over, partially
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ALAN F. WINSLOW
wrecking it: and almost at the same instant Campbell shot his down in
flames. Luckily the pilot of the burning machine had only 300 meters to fall
and was thrown out when the avion crashed. Neither of the Germans was
seriously hurt. The battle was witnessed by thousands of soldiers and civil-
ians in Toul. One of them was slightly wounded in the ear by a bullet from
ALAN WINSLOW AFTER HIS VICTORY AT TOUL
Winslow's machine gun. He was overjoyed at the honor, as he called it, of
having a si bon souvenir of the combat, and thanked Winslow most pro-
fusely and sincerely for it.
From that time on, Winslow saw a great deal of the most active kind of
service along the Front. On June 4, 191 8, with two comrades of the 94th,
he shot down a biplace far within the enemy lines; and 011 July 31, 1918,
during a bitterly contested battle, was himself shot down within German
territory. His left arm was shattered by an explosive bullet, but he managed
to land before losing consciousness from the shock and loss of blood. A short
time later, his arm was amputated above the elbow. After five months in
German hospitals, he was returned to France, on January 9, 1919, being one
of the last of the American prisoner aviators to regain his freedom.
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SERVICE RECORD
Carroll Dana Winslow, New York City.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: October 23, 19 1 5.
Aviation Schools: October 25, 1915, to May i,
1916.
Breveted: March 13, 1916 (Maurice Farman).
At the Front: Escadrille M.F. 44, May 3 to July
13, 1916.
Escadrille N. 112, March 10 to
April 30, 1917.
Final Rank: Sergent.
CARROLL DANA WINSLOW
WINSLOW, having received his early training on the Maurice Far-
man, was not sent to the Escadrille Lafayette, but to the recon-
naissance squadron, M.F. 44, a French unit. After two months at
the Front he was sent to Pau for Nieuport training, and on August 10, 191 6,
he went to America on sick-leave. He returned in January, 191 7, and after
perfecting himself as a combat pilot, was sent on active duty a second time,
to the French squadron, N. 112. After six weeks with this squadron he was
granted his release for the purpose of joining the United States Air Service.
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SERVICE RECORD
Wallace Charles Winter, Chicago, Illinois.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 25, 191 7.
Aviation Schools: June 29 to November 28, 191 7,
Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 15, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 94, December 1,
1917, to January 1, 1918.
Escadrille Spad 156, January 1
to March 8, 1918.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Killed in combat: March 8, 191 8 (Champagne
Sector).
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Star.
CITATION
Le 21 jevrier y 191 8
Le General Commandant de la IV e Armee
cite a TOrdre du Service Aeronautique:
Caporal de la Legion fitrangere Winter,
Wallace, M le 9827, de l'Escadrille
N° 156
£tant de patrouille le 19 Janvier, 191 8, a
livre un vif combat a deux biplaces ennemis
et a contribue a en abattre un en flammes.
WALLACE CHARLES WINTER
AT Pau, Winter distinguished himself by the finesse and daring of
/Jm his flying, and was specially commended by the Commandant for
X .m. landing safely a machine which had been severely damaged in an
aerial collision. Like a very few others, Winter was a man who seemed to
take instinctively to flying; in the acrobatic class, his performance was that
of an old pilot; he seemed to control perfectly the evolutions of his machine
in vrilles and renversements, and in doing vertical virages, most difficult of all
maneuvers for a young pilot, he never slipped on the wing or nosed down
toward the earth.
Winter went to the Front in December, 1917, joining Escadrille N. 94,
and transferring in January to the N. 156. This latter was one of the few
squadrons which received the small Morane monoplanes. With Winter in
the N. 156 were Putnam and Shaffer, and though their machines were soon
pronounced unsafe and no one was ordered to fly them, the four Americans
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WALLACE CHARLES WINTER
were constantly over the lines on volunteer patrols. Winter was with Put-
nam when he shot down his second Boche, and for his part in the combat
was decorated with the Croix de Guerre. Although the Sector was at that
time very quiet, he was constantly in the air, hunting the enemy far within
his own lines, and his French comrades soon came to recognize in him an in-
domitable spirit of aggressiveness and
action. Had he lived, he would have
become a famous flyer; of that there
can be no doubt.
On March 8, 191 8, the eve of his
transfer as a First Lieutenant to the
American army, Winter made his last
flight. It is characteristic of the man
that, at the time, he was not even
connected with the escadrille, but
simply waiting there for orders to
report to American Headquarters, for
he was not the type which searches
for excuses to avoid flying. The Com-
manding Officer, out of courtesy to
a man he liked, granted his request
for a machine. In the mist of early
morning, five little Moranes, swift
and graceful as dragon-flies, rose from
their aerodrome near Chalons and
headed for the lines. A French pilot
who was on the patrol is the only
man who saw the fall. Shortly after
winter's grave ^V reac hed the lines, he perceived
a pair of German two-seaters well
below him and attacked at once, plunging down at headlong speed. When
close to the Boche, he found that his gun was jammed and sheered off to
avoid the enemy's fire while clearing his mitrailleuse. Glancing over his
shoulder at this moment, he saw another Morane diving straight on the
German from behind; suddenly, when the distance between them was only
a few yards, the wings of the Morane seemed to fold up and it plunged down,
to disappear, its bracing cut away, undoubtedly, by German bullets. It was
Winter.
All along the Front, from aerodrome to aerodrome, wherever American
pilots were stationed, the news spread that Winter was dead, and his friends,
saddened by the loss, added a new and heavy item to their account against
the enemy.
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SERVICE RECORD
Houston Woodward, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Previous Service: American Ambulance, 191 7.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: July 14, 1917.
Aviation Schools: July 24 to December 14, 191 7,
Avord, Juvisy, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 30, 19 17 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 94, December 16,
1917, to April 1, 1918.
Final Rank: Caporal.
Killed in combat: April 1, 191 8, south of Mont-
didier.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATION
Le 29 avril, 1918
Groupe d'Armee de Reserve:
Citation a VOrdre de VArmee:
Woodward, Houston (Americain), Caporal
(Legion Etrangere) a l'Escadrille Spa. 94
Pilote de chasse audacieux jusqu'a la teme-
rite et recherchant opiniatrement Pennemi.
Le 6 Janvier, 191 8, abattait un avion ennemi
loin dans ses lignes. A disparu le 1 avril, 1918,
au cours d'un combat contre plusieurs avions
ennemis.
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HOUSTON WOODWARD
WOODWARD has left behind him a record as brilliant as it was
brief — a story of sacrifice, of devotion to duty, of reckless, head-
long courage. No finer words can be said of a soldier than those of
his citation to the Order of the Army: Pilote . . . audacieux jusqu'd la temiriii
et recherchant opinidtrement Vennemi.
Sent to the Front on December 16, 1917, he joined the Spad 94, in a group*
de combat which contained some of the best fighting pilots of the French
army. Austen Crehore was a member of the 94th, as was Marinovich, later
to become a famous "ace." Inspired by the example of his comrades and
burning with the ardor that counts neither odds nor cost, Woodward was in
the air at every opportunity, flying alone for the most part and far into the
enemy lines, where on many occasions he attacked single-handed large Ger-
man formations. At such distances from friendly observation posts there is
little hope of obtaining official confirmation, and though he made no useless
claims, his comrades believe that more than one German plane was shot
down on these lonely raids. Woodward's bitter aggressiveness was a cause of
concern to his superiors, who were immensely proud of their American re-
cruit, but even threatened punishment for his rashness, in an effort to instil
a drop of caution into a nature which literally did not know the meaning
of fear.
Within three weeks after his arrival on the Front, Woodward scored an
official victory — the sequel of a strange encounter. He was patrolling the
lines alone, on the lookout for a formation of his comrades, due at any mo-
ment. Suddenly he made out a lone single-seater, weaving its way through
bursts of shrapnel, and thinking that only one machine had come to join him
he fell into formation with the newcomer, following above and behind. Up
and down the lines the two paraded, the American following his compan-
ion's abrupt turns and changes of altitude, always behind and a little above.
At last, as time was nearly up, the other monoplace banked, turned straight
into the enemy lines and headed earthward with reduced motor. As it
dropped below him, Woodward was astounded to see a pair of large black
crosses on the wings — he had been following an Albatross ! A quick dive
and a burst from the Vickers sent the unconscious German hurtling down to
crash near his own front lines.
On April 1, 191 8, Woodward set out from the aerodrome at Le Plessis to
patrol the ever-changing lines to the north. The clouds were thick and very
low; south of Montdidier there was a combat against heavy odds. That is all
we know. Months afterwards, when the enemy had been driven back and the
tide of war had turned, the twisted wreck of a Spad was found in the desola-
tion near Montdidier. It bore the number of Woodward's machine.
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SERVICE RECORD
Warwick D. Worthington, Paris, France.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: March 9, 1916.
Aviation Schools: March 15, 191 6, to February 28, 191 7, Buc, Etampes, G.D.E.
Breveted: September 24, 1916 (Farman).
At the Front: Escadrille C. 53, March 3, 1917, to February 13, 1918.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned First Lieutenant: February 18, 1918.
Instructor at American A.I.C., Tours, February 18, 1918, to Armistice.
Decoration:
Croix de Guerre
WARWICK D. WORTHINGTON
A N eminent conversationalist, Worthington talked himself into the
L\ French Aviation in March, 1916. Although he was not a born pi-
jL \>. lot, he was distinctly a born hero, so that, in spite of ever-recur-
rent and ill omened mishaps, he reached the end of an eventful novitiate
by dint of much violent expostulation, and — be it here chronicled, a far
greater display of admirable grit and determination — was breveted and
sent to the Front. Worthington was one of the few pilots of the Lafayette
Corps whose lot was cast among observation flyers. His work was quietly
accomplished. It was none the less creditable. And the Croix de Guerre he
wears bears witness to the esteem and admiration in which he was held by
those under whom he served. His entire career was marked by an astonish-
ing streak of ill-luck which would have broken the spirit of most men. Time
after time he crawled hopefully from the wrecks of treacherous coucous,
which, as he always volubly explained, had willfully, and of malice afore-
thought, "done him dirt." And time after time he returned to his squadron,
C. S3, to match his skill and courage against yet other recalcitrant ships,
which, with few exceptions, consistently betrayed his confidence. Motors
simply refused to run for him. And to this day pieces of splintered ash and
mahogany, bits of frayed and weathered wing fabric, lie scattered along the
battle-front of France, from the Ferme d'Alger to the dunes of Nieuport, in
mute testimony to the constancy of Worthington.
He was deadly serious in his purpose. He had joined the Service to fight,
and every day spent away from the Front he counted as a day lost. Once
upon a time he was sent from his squadron to the training center at Le Ples-
sis-Belleville to learn the dangers and the wiles of the new G. 6 Caudron.
Upon reporting, what was his dismay to be told by the Chief Pilot that the
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WARWICK D. WORTHINGTON
G. 6, in its present state of evolution, had killed any number of novices and
had been condemned for further flights until such time as a larger tail-fin
could be manufactured and supplied in sufficient numbers to render all ma-
chines at the school reasonably safe. For once Worthington's perfect and
phenomenally extensive command of the French language failed him. The
Chief Pilot was adamant. No tail-fin, no flying, was the verdict.
Next morning Worthington was absent at roll-call. And for several days
thereafter his absence constituted his chief claim to the attention of his su-
periors. Then, quite casually and simply, he returned and reported for duty.
But he was not empty-handed. For he dragged with him, into the office of
the thunderstruck Chief Pilot, two complete, large-size tail-fins for the G. 6.
"You said no tail-fins, no flying," he explained. "Here are the tail-fins. May
I fly?" And he was in earnest. It was no grandstand play; anything but
a prank. He wanted to get back to the Front. Not being a soldier by train-
ing, only a fighter by nature, he had slashed through all the military prece-
dents and red-tape that stood between himself and his ideal and had taken
the only direct means to gain his end. He had had the tail-fins manufac-
tured. The affair cost him some little time in the guard-house, the obvious
sincerity of his motives being overshadowed by even more obvious disci-
plinary considerations. But he made shift, none the less, to carry his point;
the tail-fins were mounted on a pair of Caudrons, and his training and rapid
return to the Front accomplished in short order.
Worthington, throughout his service in the French Aviation, bore himself
with the utmost credit, accomplishing bravely, faithfully, and in the face
of consistently discouraging ill-fortune, every duty set him. His excellent
record won for him a commission in the United States Air Service. He
changed from horizon blue to khaki in February, 1918, and continued in
active service to the end of hostilities.
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SERVICE RECORD
Harold E. Wright, Brooklyn, New York.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: March 20, 1917.
Aviation Schools: March 25 to September 8, 1917, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: July 18, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 155, September 1 1 to December 23, 1917.
Final Rank: Sergent.
HAROLD E. WRIGHT
HAROLD E. WRIGHT'S chief claim to distinction as an airman is
due to the series of remarkable flights which he made during the
summer of 191 8, in the Saturday Evening Post sector. Flying the
avion "Remington Typewriter" he had a long and bitter combat with Baron
Richtofen, the greatest of German " aces." Richtofen escaped, but Baron
Munchausen, the legendary king of ground-flyers, who was hovering at an
immense height above the scene of the battle, received a mortal coup from the
Wilson machine gun, and fell upward into the blue serene, hoist by his own
petard, of which ammunition Sergent Pilote Wright had a plentiful supply.
So far as is known this is Wright's only official victory.
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SERVICE RECORD
Walter R. York, Somerville, Massachusetts.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: June 25, 1917.
Aviation Schools: June 28, 19 17, to March I,
1918, Avord, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted: December 2, 191 7 (Caudron).
At the Front: Escadrille Spad 97, March 3, 191 8,
to Armistice.
Final Rank: Sous-Lieutenant.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm.
CITATION
Le 10 octobre, 191 8
Grand Quartier General
des Armees du Nord et du
Nord-Est, £tat-Major.
Le General Commandant en Chef cite a
l'Ordre de l'Armee:
York, Walter, M le 12287 (active), Ser-
gent au i cr Regiment de Marche de la
Legion fitrangere, Pilote Aviateur
Engage volontaire pour la duree de la
guerre, pilote de chasse remarquable par son
courage, son sang-froid., et son mepris du
danger. Ayant une haute conception de son devoir, attaque a fond ses adversaires et livre
combat j usque tres loin dans les lignes allemandes. Le 17 septembre, a abattu un appareil
ennemi en flammes.
Le General Commandant en Chef
Petain
WALTER R. YORK
WALTER YORK is one of the small group of Americans who have
attained commissioned rank in the French army, having won this
unusual distinction by good work over the lines, coupled with
seriousness, devotion to duty, and a knowledge of French. York has been
through many thrilling experiences, but perhaps none more exciting than
the following, which we will let him relate in his own words:
"On September 15, seven of us went over with orders to attack and burn
a certain saucisse at any cost. This particular saucisse was well in the Ger-
man lines and the wind was dead against us for returning to our lines. More-
over, there were no clouds in the sky in which we could play a little game of
hide and seek, should Fritz get us where he wanted us. When almost on the
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WALTER R. YORK
balloon, we saw a patrol of ten Fokkers, who, guessing what our business
was, were turning to cut us off before we succeeded in reaching our objective.
They just did beat us to it and fell on our patrol leader, and, contrary to cus-
tom, they attacked him first. I tried to disengage him and the attacking
German let him go, but veering more quickly than I could, succeeded in
placing himself behind me. From that minute the whole combat remains a
confusion of virages, renversements, and half-turns of vrilles, with the Boche
generally ending up in the choice position, directly on the tail of my machine.
A second rat-tat-tat, and a glimpse of incendiary bullets, was sufficient to
make me abandon flying in a straight line. Maneuver as I would, I succeeded
in finding him in my sights just once, and then only for an instant, not suffi-
cient time to make a good correction. Frankly, I was up against a much bet-
ter pilot than myself, a bird who could turn around on a dime and leave .nine
cents change. It seemed like an eternity that we had been fighting, when
once again I looked over my shoulder to find him swinging the bright yellow
nose of his machine into my tail. I tried to pull a mounting virage, but just in
the middle of it, my motor spit a couple of times and my stick started turn-
ing slower and slower until it nearly stopped. No pressure on my essence
gauge! There I hung, straight up and down in the air, presenting a perfect
target that the worst shot in France could n't miss. I knew it would be a
matter of only a second before my machine would lose its speed, fall off into
a wing-slip and then into a vrille. If only my stick would keep on turning,
and the Boche take a little more time before shooting, I should be safe, be-
cause in the glissage with my nose over, I could slip her into my nourrice,
which is independent of pressure, and catch my motor. Can you guess my
relief when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw another good old Spad dive
from above, direct on the Fritz, and heard the rat-tat-tat of a pair of Vick-
ers. I don't know exactly what happened after that, but I believe that the
German, caught absolutely unawares, was shot down by the other Spad,
which, by the way, was piloted by my roommate. When I came out of my
vrille, I saw that the combat was over, and was well content to slide along
home. We did not succeed in getting our saucisse and lost one Lieutenant in
flames. The patrol got one Boche officially and two others, probably. I did
not see what passed with the others, having my hands full from the start, but
it appears that another strong patrol of Fokkers was about to come to the
rescue of their comrades, so our patrol had to beat it just as my own combat
terminated. A pretty lucky escape for me. Two days later, three of us at-
tacked by surprise this same band of Fokkers and had a sweet revenge. My
roommate shot down one and I got another in flames."
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SERVICE RECORD
Frederick W. Zinn, Battle Creek,
Michigan.
Previous Service: Foreign Legion
(Infantry), August 24, 19 14,
to February 1, 1916.
Wounded while with Legion.
Service in French Aviation:
Date of enlistment: February 14,
1916.
Aviation Schools: February 17 to
December 10, 1916, Etampes,
Cazeaux, Pau, G.D.E.
Breveted (as mitrailleur-bombar-
dier): August 29, 1916.
At the Front: Escadrille F. 24,
December 12, 1916, to Oc-
tober 21, 191 7.
ZINN AND HIS PILOT Attached to the French Mission,
American G.H.Q., Chaumont,
October 21 to November 16,
1917.
Final Rank: Sergent.
Service in U.S. Aviation:
Commissioned Captain: November 16, 191 7.
Attached to American G.H.Q., Chaumont,
November 16, 191 7, to Armistice.
Decorations:
Croix de Guerre, with Palm and Star.
CITATIONS
Citation a VOrdre de V Arm'ee:
Zinn, Fr£d£ric, observateur a l'Escadrille F. 24
Engage volontaire ameiicain au 2 e Etranger, a participe a toutes les operations de ce
corps d'aout, 191 4, a octobre, 191 5. Grievement blesse et passe dans Faviation comme ob-
servateur, s'y est fait aussitot remarquer par son sang-froid, son audace, et son mepris du
danger. A fourni depuis le 10 avril, souvent sans protection, un grand nombre de reconnais-
sances photographiques lointaines qu'il a toujours menees a bien, malgre le tir de rartillerie
et les attaques des avions ennemis.
Citation a VOrdre de V Aeronautique:
Zinn, Fr£d£ric
Soldat de la nationality americaine, s'est engage dans l'armee f rancaise pour la duree de la
guerre, blesse dans Tinfanterie, a repris du service dans Taviation en qualite d'observateur
photographe.
A execute de nombreuses missions photographiques eloigners, sans protection et malgre
la presence de nombreux avions ennemis. S'est toujours distingue par sa grand bravoure et
son sang-froid.
[512]
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FREDERICK W. ZINN
AN adequate account of the war service of Frederick Zinn from Au-
gust 24, 1 91 4, when he enlisted in the Foreign Legion (Infantry),
l until the Armistice, would greatly exceed the limits possible in a
brief biographical sketch. His was an unusually varied experience, and his
record, from the point of view of quality as well as length of service, one of
the finest of the Corps. In addition to the usual equipment of a legionnaire,
soldat de la deuxieme classe, Zinn carried with him to the trenches a good
ZINN'S SQUADRON, SOP. 24
camera. He took numberless photographs during the campaign of 1914-15.
War correspondents and photographers were not then permitted at the
Front; but Zinn, who was both soldier and photographer, took his pictures
without interference. They were in great demand in America. They were
printed far and wide, in illustrated magazines and newspapers, and it was
due to his fearlessness and his enthusiasm as an amateur photographer that
Americans at home were able to have graphic pictorial accounts of life in the
trenches during the first battles of the war.
Zinn was wounded during the 191 5 battle of Champagne which ended his
career as an infantryman. After his release from hospital he entered French
Aviation and became one of the three American observers and machine-
[513 ]
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FREDERICK W. ZINN
gunners in the French service. As an observer he was able to continue in an
official capacity his work in photography. In the old slow-flying Farmans,
and later in Sopwiths, he went with his pilot on long photographic missions
far into enemy territory, the two men often fighting their way back to the
French lines and reaching them only by incredible good fortune.
Ten months of experience with the French in corps cTarmee work made him
a valuable asset to the United States Air Service, and he was one of the first
of the volunteers whose transfer was requested by the American authorities.
This took place in October, 1917, and from that time until the close of the
war, Zinn was on duty at the American G.H.Q. at Chaumont, at the First Air
Depot, Colombey-les-Belles, and elsewhere. After the Armistice he went into
Germany as chief of the American Mission for locating the graves of Ameri-
can airmen who had fallen in German-held territory.
END OF VOLUME I
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